March 29, 2000
UW School of Medicine will honor Wenatchee clinical teaching sites in medicine and surgery
The University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine this week will recognize the internal medicine and surgical teaching sites in Wenatchee, Wash., for more than a quarter-century of teaching UW medical students and surgical residents. Since the early 1970s, many health professionals in Wenatchee have participated in the UW’s regional efforts to move physician training into communities, where future doctors can experience more of what actual practice is like.
Dr. John B. Coombs, UW associate vice president for clinical systems and community relations, and associate dean for regional affairs, rural health and graduate medical education; and Dr. Dawn DeWitt, assistant professor of medicine and a coordinator of the medical school?s regional clerkships in internal medicine, will be in Wenatchee March 29 and 30 to honor the teaching sites. In addition to speaking at a private dinner March 29, Coombs will address the Rotary Club of Wenatchee at its noon meeting March 30.
“We are looking forward to honoring the Wenatchee Valley Clinic, Central Washington Hospital and other individuals, agencies and organizations in Wenatchee for their ongoing support of UW physician training ,” said Coombs. “Community support, such as we enjoy in Wenatchee, has been the principle reason why the UW School of Medicine is a national leader in preparing physicians to meet the needs of the public.”
The Wenatchee teaching site in internal medicine was established in April of 1974 under the direction of Dr. William “Bill” McKee. It provides third-year medical students with experience in outpatient general internal medicine, along with exposure to selected subspecialties, at the Wenatchee Valley Clinic. The medical students obtain hospital experience at Central Washington Hospital. The physicians-in-training visit local industries and nearby health-care facilities to better understand the community and its health-care needs.
Wenatchee cardiologist Dr. R. Kirby Primm, UW clinical associate professor of medicine, has coordinated the Wenatchee internal medicine clerkship since 1985. There are 33 UW Department of Medicine clinical faculty members at the Wenatchee Valley Clinic who teach third-year medical students. Approximately 175 UW medical students have taken the Wenatchee internal medicine clerkship since its start. Several have returned to north central Washington to practice.
For nearly 30 years, doctors in the UW?s surgery residency program have been given the opportunity to take a training rotation in Wenatchee. In 1970, then-chair of the UW Department of Surgery, Dr. K.A. Merendino, asked Wenatchee surgeons Dr. Gerald Gibbons and Dr. Chris Stahler if they would train surgical residents in their practices. Since that time Wenatchee surgeons have contributed greatly to the education and skills of third- and fourth-year UW surgical residents who elect this popular rotation. The present director of residency training at the Wenatchee Valley Clinic is Dr. Milton H. Brinton, UW clinical professor of surgery.
The Wenatchee Valley Clinic has played a broader role in medical education in north central Washington in several ways. The Wenatchee Valley Clinic-Omak is the site of the UW?s oldest rural family medicine training site for medical students and residents. Dr. Greg Ledgerwood, UW clinical associate professor of family medicine, coordinates the Omak training site. Ledgerwood and several other physicians associated with Wenatchee Valley Clinic also have participated as preceptors in the Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program. This program allows beginning medical students to witness first-hand the work of highly dedicated physicians practicing in small towns.
