As a child, Nancy Githere-Thande, DO, MPH, knew she wanted to be a doctor. She liked taking things apart and putting them back together. Later, she loved high school biology, and she’s long had a passion for serving the community.
After graduating from medical school, Dr. Githere-Thande was excited to join Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa’s Family Medicine Residency, in part because the curriculum included a focus on community medicine.
The residency offers training in a full range of family medicine, from advanced obstetrics to geriatrics. The program’s 19 residents also work at community sites and free clinics throughout their training.
Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program Director Rachel Friedman, MD, said it’s part of the program’s mission “to train outstanding family medicine physician leaders.”
“We want them to innovate and transform our systems of health care, improving the health and health equity of the communities they serve,” she said.
Providing care to patients with limited resources
Santa Rosa Family Medicine residents see patients at Petaluma Health Center every time they’re on a community medicine rotation throughout the 3-year residency. Petaluma Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center providing care to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
By working at the center, Dr. Githere-Thande said she’s learned how to provide great quality care to patients who have limited resources.
“There’s a higher percentage of patients on Medi-Cal and patients who are uninsured or underinsured,” she said. “I’m learning that people can be healthy or unhealthy, regardless of their socioeconomics, and this is a great place to learn how to give high-quality care in this kind of setting.”
Helping connect community members to specialty care
Santa Rosa’s Family Medicine Residency is one of 19 Kaiser Permanente residency programs in Northern California training physicians in a range of fields, from emergency medicine to mental health and wellness. Last year the programs trained 1,639 medical residents. The programs are fully funded by Kaiser Permanente as part of its mission to improve health in the community, and residents take part in a range of community health related activities.
One of the many ways the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency contributes to community health is the KP ACCESS program. KP ACCESS offers Kaiser Permanente specialty care to low-income, uninsured patients from Petaluma Health Center and other local Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Residents coordinate the care for community patients and specialists, provide critical diagnostic, surgical, and other clinical services free of charge.
The program helped 41 patients so far this year.
“KP ACCESS is a targeted, high-impact program for people in the community who have serious health issues and can’t get the care they need,” Dr. Friedman said. “The care we provide can be lifesaving.”
The Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano Family Medicine Residency program coordinates a similar program for community members who need specialty care.
Investing in the future of community health
With a growing nationwide shortage of physicians, especially in primary care, Kaiser Permanente residency programs also help fill a critical need in the community.
Yimdriuska (Gigi) Magan Mendoza, MD, graduated from the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program this summer, and is now working at Petaluma Health Center. Dr. Magan received care at Petaluma Health Center as a child, did her community medicine rotations there, and now has come full circle as a staff physician.
Petaluma Health Center CEO Pedro Toledo welcomes the Kaiser Permanente residents, no matter where they decide to practice, because he knows that ensuring that people have access to primary care is critical.
“There’s a lot of evidence that the more primary care providers there are in a community, the heathier the community is,” he said.
