BY BILL DONOVAN
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES 2/7/2019
LOS ANGELES — A new residency program now being planned by officials of the Rehoboth McKinley Christian
Hospital may help solve one of the biggest problems in the
medical field in this area — the high turnover of doctors and
nurses in both the private and public sector.

The program was made possible by the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education, which monitors and
sets standards to prepare doctors to provide medical care.

David Conejo, CEO of the hospital, said that approval will
pave the way for the hospital’s College Clinic to offer a residency program in rural and Native American health care, with
specialties in fields like diabetes and asthma, conditions that are major problems on the Navajo and Zuni reservations.

Under the program, residents will learn how to treat patients who may not have access to running water and electricity, subjects that are not covered in almost all other residency programs in the United States.

“By taking this initial step, we are paving the way to expand rural health to the Four Corners area and improve the lives of residents by providing greater health care,” said Conejo.

Many of the patients treated at the College Clinic are Navajo who have medical insurance and who opt to go to a private clinic rather than to use the Indian Health Service.

Even those who go to the Gallup Indian Medical Center will benefit, said Conejo, since discussions include having College Clinic residents also do a rotation at GIMC and other IHS facilities. This will give
them better insight into providing medical treatment in Indian Country, Conejo said.

One of the major problems faced by the IHS here as well as in other parts of the U.S. is a high turnover of doctors at IHS facilities on the reservation. Although there are a few doctors who have decided to make a life here, most stay for just two or three years and then either go into private practice or transfer to a city for better amenities.

This has led to some complaints by Navajos who use IHS facilities that it seems that almost every time they go to the hospital they are seen by a different doctor.

Conejo is hoping that those who enter a residency program here may be attracted to the area or the culture and would be amenable to staying for a longer period of time – maybe their entire career.

Dr. Vallory Wangler, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said the College Clinic has been approved to have four residencies, with the first ones coming on board in 2020 and 2021. It’s a two-year program and the College Clinic can accept any medical college graduate in the U.S. who has an interest in specializing in rural health or Native American medicine.

The door is also open to the possibility of attracting Native American medical school graduates. Under the guidelines for the program, the College Clinic supervises the residents as long as they are residents.

That includes when they may be rotated to GIMC, for example, for training in the handling of hantavirus cases.

Conejo started talking about setting up this program in 2015 shortly after he became CEO of the hospital.

He said before that could occur, however, the College Clinic would have to have on staff experienced doctors who would be able to mentor residents in the field they wanted to work in.

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