AltaMed’s Family Medicine Residency Program

04/15/2021 by Ashley Sanchez

Angela lives in a Southern California suburb that has been historically low-income. She always dreamed of becoming a doctor so she could give back and serve her community. Sadly, because of her neighborhood’s socioeconomic status, she had to overcome many obstacles to achieve that goal. And now that she has finally reached her objective, she encounters another setback. There are too many patients for her to attend to, but not enough doctors in her community to care for each patient and improve her community’s overall health.

Angela’s experience is all too common. Physician shortages in low-income communities are an overwhelming strain to health care systems, patients and doctors alike. Clinically trained doctors have extremely limited resources when it comes to treating their diverse portfolio of patients. AltaMed Health Services is one of the largest nonprofit, federally qualified health centers (FQHC) in the U.S., serving over 300,000 individuals each year at more than 50 sites throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. This honorable work is accomplished with approximately 300 physicians. However, in order to fulfill the needs of our communities and provide individualized care and resources, we need more than double the current number of doctors.

Family Medicine Residency Program

Because of the growing demand for physicians in our network, AltaMed launched the Family Medicine Residency Program under the direction of Dr. Cecilia Florio just prior to the global pandemic. The pandemic proved that underserved communities need more doctors. The Family Residency Program offers newly graduated doctors the opportunity to learn and practice in a FQHC setting. This community-patient centered, three-year experience provides doctors with a comprehensive understanding of the specific needs of the community and AltaMed’s diverse, multi-ethnic patient population.

AltaMed’s programming goes beyond basic health services to focus on eliminating health care barriers and providing primary care services and resources to patients and community members regardless of ability to pay. Since 1969, the AltaMed team has been comprised of qualified multicultural and bilingual professionals from the same communities we serve, which offers a comprehensive understanding of patient health and lifestyle.

AltaMed continues to eliminate health care disparities by increasing access to programs and resources. The Family Medicine Residency Program provides residents from varying backgrounds with first-hand knowledge of the social determinants of health among vulnerable populations as well as valuable experience administering care in a clinical setting. Providing community-based health training to the next generation of physicians will make a significant impact on the health and prosperity of the communities we serve. Increasing the number of physicians in our network will significantly reduce negative health outcomes for our patients.

Empowering medical residents to deliver culturally competent health care in a community-based health center ensures that others in communities similar to Angela’s receive the care they deserve.

What You Can Do

Your support of AltaMed and our Family Medicine Residency Program propels our mission forward so that we can prepare the next generation of doctors. The program will continue our work to eradicate health care disparities and improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations throughout Southern California. To learn more about this program and our goal of growing a team of 700 physicians, please visit https://www.altamed.org/residency.

Help us deliver a better tomorrow for our communities

When all people have access without barriers to health care and human services, cycles are broken and communities flourish. With support from donors, AltaMed can expand our community programs and help more members of the community thrive.

AltaMed Foundation

2040 Camfield Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90040

[email protected] | (323) 889-7845