PORTLAND, OR -- OHSU in Portland and Bend-based St. Charles Health System are working together to increase the number of family medicine doctors in rural Oregon.
The new “Three Sisters Rural Track Program” is the first of its kind in Central Oregon. Program Director Dr. Jinnell Lewis says after one year at OHSU, three residents move to St. Charles Madras for two more years. "As soon as they move out to Madras, in August of 2025, they will start seeing patients in the clinics in Madras and serving our community right away." She adds, "I never thought that would be possible when I moved to Madras. And, it opens the door for our community to improve access to healthcare and grow our physician population."
Dr. Lewis says the goal is to get more doctors training in rural areas because, "About 55% of them will stay within 100 miles of where they train. So, this is a huge opportunity, not just for Jefferson County and Madras, but for all of Central Oregon and maybe even further out into eastern Oregon."
Resident Callie Krewson is a Bend native and graduated from Mountain View High School. She tells KBND News she looks forward to practicing medicine so close to home, "Being able to come back into that community in the role of a physician and being able to help that community in a medical way is really exciting." She recognizes it's difficult to recruit doctors into rural communities, but says it offers a diversity of skill and a work-life balance not available in a more urban areas. "In a rural setting, you really get to use a lot of the medicine that you learn in day to day life, while still focusing on some of your interests."
Ben Khalil is also excited about the diversity of patients he’ll see in Central Oregon, "As a healthcare provider, being able to take care of anyone that comes in the door, as a family medicine physician is what I’ve been looking forward to."
Resident Chris Sutton agrees not everyone wants to work in a rural clinic, "A lot of people come from the city and they don’t want to leave the city. And a lot of people come from a rural area, but there’s not a lot of opportunity in rural areas, so they leave to the city to work, and they end up staying there."
According to OHSU, around its Portland campus, there are nearly six primary care doctors for every 1,000 people. But in Madras, it’s less than .8 per thousand.
