Valerie Robinson, Chunwen Tang, and Deborah Hefner pose for a photograph May 15 during an event meant to honor their graduating out of the new residency program through the Choctaw Nation.
First Students Graduate from Choctaw Nation Health Care Center Residency
_By Brandon Frye
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
DURANT, Okla.– The first students to graduate from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Health Service Authority (CNHSA) Talihina Residency Program were honored May 15 at the Choctaw Casino and Resort Conference Center.
Deborah Hefner, Valerie Robinson, and Chunwen Tang, now officially graduated into being Doctors of Osteopathy, spent three years working at the Choctaw Nation HealthCare Center in Talihina caring for patients in family practice, intensive care, the emergency room, and attending lectures given by staff physicians.
The residency program got its start three years ago thanks to a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, particularly the Health Resources and Services Administration.
To get the program started, it took 18 months of preparation, according to Dr. Jason Hill, Medical Director for CNHS and Residency Program Director. For the Choctaw Nation, this preparation resulted in the development of one of only a handful of Native hospitals to have an accredited residency program.
“It started in conjunction with Oklahoma State University, and with our need to expand rural residencies here in the state,” Hill said. “We had been approached in the past to consider the Choctaw Nation as a training site for rural family physicians and internal medicine physicians. This seemed like a good opportunity to recruit local people to work in our system.”
Teresa Jackson, Senior Executive Officer of Health Services for Choctaw Nation, said the residency program has helped with recruitment and retention for family practice doctors in southeast Oklahoma.
One of the three residency graduates has signed on with CNHS and will be working in the Stigler clinic, and others have expressed interest in staying once their residency program ends, according to Jackson.
One benefit for tribal members who have recently visited a CNHS location is they may already be familiar with these resident physicians, and as the residents become full-fledged doctors their patients will be able to continue to see them.
Additionally, according to Hall, an important benefit of the program is it has invigorated CNHS medical staff, engaged the physicians on staff by tasking them with teaching the residents, which means better quality health care for tribal members who come into Choctaw Nation healthcare locations.
“I also use it as a recruiting tool, because when a doctor hears we have a residency program, it is a mark of quality,” Hall said. “If you think of the best hospitals in the country, almost all of them are teaching hospitals. I think by adding the residency program, it increased our quality because it keeps our physicians current and draws in more physicians.”