FSU College of Medicine 2018 annual report 2019 Annual Report | Page 32

COMMUNITY-BASED MEDICAL EDUCATION
30
GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
WINTER HAVEN, FAMILY MEDICINE: TAKING OFF
about the way we do things; and I think there’s a great
The College of Medicine’s new family medicine residency
opportunity here for serving the community.
program with BayCare Health System will bring in its first
“Everyone in town would be more than happy to hire one
six residents in summer 2020. That’s hardly the beginning
point for a program that has been generating excitement of our graduates, so if you like the community there’s a good
throughout the community. opportunity to stay and grow with it and to make your mark.
Nathan Falk was hired in 2018 as the program’s founding Winter Haven is a welcoming area, especially for people who
director. He led the recruitment of new faculty and a have a mind for service – the kind of people we are recruiting.”
successful application for accreditation, which was granted
in October 2019. The program’s new Family Health Center
opened in August and already is ahead of projections for
patient volume.
“I’m hearing nothing but excellent things for how this
Hospital Chief Medical Officer Vincent Gatto.
Gatto, who practiced OB-GYN for nearly 35 years before
becoming the hospital’s CMO in 2018, recalled Winter
Haven having only two restaurants when he arrived in 1984.
SARASOTA: NEW FELLOWSHIP
IN PALLIATIVE CARE
The college’s partnership with Sarasota Memorial Hospital
residency is going to benefit not only the residents but the Today it’s a rapidly growing small town midway between has expanded to include both a new emergency medicine
community as a whole and the hospital,” said Winter Haven Orlando and Tampa with significant appeal for those who residency, which welcomed its first nine residents in July
like the benefit of nearby big-city offerings and the charm 2019, and a new hospice and palliative medicine fellowship.
of a close-knit community. Until now, there had not been a
medical residency program in Winter Haven.
“We’re evolving from a community hospital to a semi-
The fellowship received initial accreditation in September
2019 and will welcome its first two fellows in July 2020.
In addition to focusing on relief from the symptoms
academic hospital, and I believe having this program will and stress of a chronic or progressive illness, hospice and
help us bring in stronger talent across the board,” Gatto palliative-care physicians address patient and family mental
said. “I think this is going to elevate the level of education health and social needs with consideration for the influence of
for physicians at the hospital, and every physician I speak to cultural, financial and environmental factors.
here is looking forward to the possibility of teaching. This
program is just a really good fit.”
By next year, Falk expects the program to have four or five
The fellows will complete rotations in inpatient palliative
care, community hospice care and cancer care. They’ll learn
from founding Program Director Joelle Vlahakis, a board-
additional faculty members and to be receiving more than certified internal medicine and palliative care physician, as
1,000 applications for the six available resident positions. well as from other SMH faculty and physicians in the College
He’s pleased with the initial applicants. of Medicine-sponsored internal medicine residency program
“There are some advantages of a new program over a more
at SMH. They’ll also spend time with medical directors in
established one,” he said. “We have an opportunity to build community-based centers providing home hospice, geriatric,
something special and make our mark; we can be creative pediatric palliative and outpatient oncology care.