Transcription:
GCRMC Family Medicine Residency Program

Joey Wahler (Host): New Mexico is known as the land of enchantment. And Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center has the state's newest family medicine residency program. So we're discussing why residents are so enchanted with their experience there. This is the Champions for Wellness Podcast brought to you by Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. We believe knowledge is the key that opens the door to a healthy life. Our guests, Dr. Leandrita Ortega, site director of the GCRMC Family Residency Program and Dr. Lincoln Hiatt a resident in that program. Doctors, thanks for joining us. And first for you, Dr. Ortega, now your program is unique in that residents are trained in an independent community hospital with no competing residency programs. Why is that so beneficial would you say?

Dr Leandrita Ortega: Thanks so much for having us today. Yes, we are in a unique position, because we do have lots of different specialties in our city. but it allows our residents to be able to have. Basically, unhindered access to the different specialists that we have. And so in many hospitals, especially larger teaching institutions, universities, etcetera, the family medicine residents, are often sort of the low people on the totem pole, so to speak. They often aren't given. The ability to do procedures and to participate in some of the, larger cases in surgery, for example. And so here, because our residency is unopposed, our residents are given the opportunity to do quite a bit more according to what their future career plans are.

Joey Wahler (Host): Gotcha. So Dr. Hiatt, you're from Arizona and attended med school in Mexico. In a nutshell, what attracted you to this residency program in particular?

Dr Lincoln Hiatt: So I grew up in a rural area in Arizona and I've always enjoyed being in the outdoors, being able to interact with nature and things of that nature. The program at Gerald Champion is a rural medicine program. So they specifically train doctors to be able to function in a rural area where we may not have complete access to all the specialties that we would like to have, which means that we will need to do more medicine before we have to, or are able to send those patients to a different city, because it's a big burden on those patients.

If they have to travel for care. And Gerald Champion is specifically training us in that rural medical community. And that was the biggest draw to me as well as being in a wonderful place close to white sands in the Lincoln National Forest and other, natural, recreational areas.

Joey Wahler (Host): Understood. So Dr. Ortega, the hospital recently invested over a million dollars to build a state of the art residency clinic. which is right near Champion Family Medicine Clinic. What are some of the benefits of that setup?

Dr Leandrita Ortega: Yeah. So, they did invest quite a bit to build us a nice residency clinic, which we've already outgrown. And so they're now investing additional money to build us a new residency clinic on the hospital campus. So the setup we have now, it's convenient for our patients. it's located in a very convenient part of town. It's very easy access for many patients it's right next to the urgent care, which is also helpful. The setup is really, very nice. built from the ground up.

And so, we have a large number of exam rooms and a really nice area, for our nursing staff, as well as, a procedure room and some other things that are important for residency clinic. Our new clinic is actually going to have all of that and even more so we'll have room for a dedicated behavioral health staff member to be there, as well as a multiple pod system. And so we'll actually be able to, accommodate more patients, which will be really nice when that's completed.

Joey Wahler (Host): Speaking of which Dr. Hiatt, as someone making use of all this, what are some the advantages for you to be able to look and see this program and the related facilities, literally growing by day around you?

Dr Lincoln Hiatt: Well, it's definitely, an amazing experience because I get to work, hand in hand with the CEO, the CMO and the CFO, and there's discussions that happen in regards to how things are progressing. And then to be able to be a part of this brand new program, and make sure that I get to leave my mark, as I train and become an independently practicing physician, in this program is definitely a wonderful opportunity for me. And as far as the facilities go, I've been able to work in the clinic that Dr. Ortega has spoken about. And it's great. It's brand new. There's a lot of wonderful things that we have available to us, but it will be especially wonderful with more room as our program continues to grow and we see more and more patients.

Joey Wahler (Host): So for you, Dr. Ortega, it sounds from what Dr. Hyatt has said so far, like you really give your residents a lot of leeway to learn a lot, perhaps sooner than in other programs. What's the philosophy behind that?

Dr Leandrita Ortega: What I really like about family medicine is that it is so flexible. So, I've been practicing now for about 16 years and in that time I've done full spectrum family medicine. When I moved to Alamogordo, I basically became a geriatrician just because that's the practice I took over. But when you do family medicine, you're able to do that, to make those kinds of changes because of the broad based training that we receive. And so our accrediting agency, the ACGME has really begun to recognize that, in a very, I guess, granular way.

And so they're encouraging residency directors to really make sure that we're. Giving training to our residents. That's very specific to them. So for example, I may have one resident who really wants to do full spectrum, kind of like Dr. Hyatt was talking about. Go out into a rural community where there aren't a lot of resources. So if we know that a resident wants to do that, We will tailor their training to make sure they get all those skills. And maybe even in some cases extend the residency, if necessary and that's definitely an option.

But we have other residents that say, you know, I really like working in the hospital, so we try to make sure that we give them many opportunities to practice those skills as well. And so we really do, have a lot of conversations with our residents. It is the advantage of having a small program. They have pretty much open door access to all of the staff of the residency. And so we can really tailor their training to what their future practice goals are. But also they're still gonna get all that other stuff too, so that if they do decide later on that they wanna make a change, they've been trained to do that.

Joey Wahler (Host): Interesting. So Dr. Hiatt having heard that sort of scale of flexibility on the one hand learning things specific to your interest, but on the other hand, also learning things that will help you should you switch gears at some point. What does that mean for someone at your stage in the profession?

Dr Lincoln Hiatt: Yeah, it's actually really amazing because one of the beautiful things about medicine and medical training is we get as family medicine, doctors, and as medical students, before this, we have opportunities to work in all the different specialties. And a lot of times we don't make the decision on what kind of medicine we wanna practice right out the gate. And as we gain more experience in a certain area or another, we might decide, you know what? I thought I wanted to do this, but now I wanna do something different.

And so the beauty of being able to have that communication with Dr. Ortega and the other leadership, in the program is that if I thought I wanted to do something, but now I'm realizing maybe I want to go into sports medicine or a different pathway, then we can, retrofit the emphasis that we have. But for me, I really love rural areas. I love rural medicine and I want to be able to take care of as many of those patients as I can. So, I've been able to get a lot of hospital training so far. I'm starting my second year in the program of three.

And this second year, I'm gonna be focusing on, different, specialties, like general surgery, like Dr. Ortega mentioned, but also OB GYN, and endocrinology, which are all things that I'll see taking care of diabetics or pregnant patients and, general surgical situations. So, it's definitely a wonderful opportunity to be able to see what I want and then to have somebody be there, backing us up to try and get us to that spot.

Joey Wahler (Host): And that sounds great, obviously, in a rural area, as we've touched on a little bit, the more versatility I'm sure, the better. Couple of other things for each of you, switching gears a little bit for you, Dr. Ortega, I know your hospital believes in a real strong work life balance. What's the philosophy behind making sure that these residents, while they're being worked quite a bit, to be able to save lives on a regular basis, that they also are able to have the time to blow off steam and do what they enjoy and be what their families away from work, etcetera?

Dr Leandrita Ortega: Yeah, thank you. That's a great question. I'm actually quite passionate about wellness. part of that is because I had, most of my children. I have four children, not quite as many as Dr. Hyatt, but quite a few. And so I actually had, my children during a medical school in residency, and then my latest one as I was starting this program. So I've, always had to try to maintain that balance and I've done better at it at sometimes than others.

And so, I feel like, because I've had that experience, I can really speak into the resident's lives. and really what I, ask them to do is to be very present when they're at work. And to do their best and to be excellent. But then when they go home, which they need to go home, the work is over and it's now time to focus on your family or on your own wellness and just kind of leave this behind as much as you can. Now as a physician, to be honest, We think about our patients, we worry about them.

But what I really don't want is that we're continuing to do work in those hours, that our family really wants to spend time with us or when we need to rest or to exercise or do other things to be well. We're also trying, and COVID's made this a challenge, with our first year, but I'm hoping that that will get better. Just to incorporate lots of, what I call wellness activities into the program. So for example, we may go, hiking instead of doing our didactics once a quarter. We may go to white sands and just have a fun day there together.

And so now that we have more families, I definitely am trying to come up with ideas and actually some of the residents are going to be in charge of this, for activities and families can come along too. So for example, next month, we're planning, To go to white sands for full moon night on a Friday, and people can bring their families, we'll have food and everybody can kind of get to know each other and it's outdoors, which is nice. We don't have to worry so much about COVID there. And so just trying to kind of be cognizant of that as a group, but also encouraging people on their own to make sure that they're attending to their own wellness.

Joey Wahler (Host): Gotcha. And Dr. Hiatt, if this were a poker game, I guess you would see Dr. Ortega's four children and raise her seven. You have seven of your own. Whew. That being said, how important is it? How great is it to have a manager and a management team that understand the need for you to be with your family as well as being passionate about work?

Dr Lincoln Hiatt: It's been amazing to work with Dr. Ortega since the very first time I met her a couple years ago. She's been very present and aware of my situation. And I know with all the residents, there's different situations or some of us aren't married. Some of us are, some don't have any kids and I have enough for everyone. But the first year of residency was definitely very difficult. I was actually living in Alamogordo and commuting to Los Crusus, which the hospital from my house is about 74 miles.

And that first year was very taxing. But knowing that I was gonna be able to be in Alamogordo for the second and third year, I live right around the corner from the hospital. And not very far away from our clinic. I knew it was what we needed to do as a family, and I was willing to make that sacrifice. But now that I'm here, In Alamogordo I could walk to work every morning if I wanted to, it definitely has opened up, more opportunities for me to be present with my family as Dr. Ortega put it.

But also to be present at work and not have to worry if I'm leaving someone out too much. Family's been very supportive. They're very excited to be an Alamo Gordo and to be a part of the Gerald Champion, family. And, we're just excited to be able to be there and to be working with such an amazing group of people.

Joey Wahler (Host): That's awesome. Now, before we go, Dr. Ortega, you also offer residents international medical care experiences. So where can they travel and what experience can they gain?

Dr Leandrita Ortega: So, one of the things during my training, there was a big emphasis on going overseas or going to other places, just to kind of get a sense of what medical care is like in other countries, and that's something that I've continued just personally since then. And so it's something that I wanted to offer to the residents. Of course, I almost feel like COVID is a bad word because it seems to interfere with many things, but travel was one. And so it isn't something we've been able to do as of yet, but I definitely have a list of experiences that I would like to perhaps pursue.

I have a colleague who has a hospital in Ghana and he actually is a program director in Virginia. And takes his residents there once a year. So that's one thing that we may be partnering with them to see about sending some of our residents. There's also opportunities to travel to Mexico. We're very close to the border. I know there's a refugee clinic in a town just an hour away that I would like to get involved with. It's with like another colleague from Los Crusus, she is running that.

And so, I think just seeing things from a different perspective really helps us to be more grateful for what we have and the resources that we. I always come back feeling pretty inspired when I've spent time in other places and just seen how people can manage with a lot less than we have. It's just something that I'm hoping that travel restrictions are going to continue to be a little looser so that we can offer some of these, opportunities to our residents.

Joey Wahler (Host): Well, it certainly sounds very much indeed. Like both of you really have made a big part of your lives, helping those less fortunate, those in need. Great to hear. And a pleasure to be able to find out more about both of you and the program. Folks, we hope you're now more familiar with Gerard Champion Regional Medical Center's great family medicine, residency program doctors, Ortega and Hiatt. Thanks so much again.

Dr Leandrita Ortega: Thank you.

Dr Lincoln Hiatt: Yes. Thank you very much for your time.

Joey Wahler (Host): Same here. And for more information, please visit gcrmc.org/family-medicine-residency-program. Or if you've missed any of our podcasts, please go to gcrmc.org/podcast. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks for listening to Champions for Wellness, local caregivers, educating our community. Hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey Wahler.