Onvida Health is excited to announce an academic affiliation agreement with Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare Systems. The new VA partnership allows for expanded clinical education opportunities for Onvida Health’s Family & Community Medicine residents to take care of those who have served.
The academic affiliation will provide clinical rotations at Yuma Veteran Center – which sees approximately 1,863 clinic visits a year – as well as educational opportunities with VA Southern Arizona Health Care in Tucson. Medical residents are expected to begin rotations next academic year.
“This is such a special and important addition to our medical residents’ academic and clinical training,” says Dr. Kristina Diaz, President of Onvida Health Medical Group. “Our veterans have served our country; many require treatment sustained during their service and they are a significant portion of our Yuma patient population. Our residents and residency team are honored to provide our veterans additional care through this VA clinic partnership.”
Onvida Health started its Family & Community Medical Residency – a three-year training program for recently graduated primary care physicians – in 2013. At that time, Yuma County was designated a Health Provider Shortage Area and Onvida Health identified more than 50 percent of Yuma providers who were over 55 and planning for retirement. Nation-wide statistics were projecting a shortage of family medicine doctors, a fate that would greatly affect a more rural, hard to recruit area, like Yuma.
Since 2013, 58 physicians have graduated from Onvida Health’s residency program. Thirty-one percent have chosen to stay in Yuma and continue practicing. Currently 27 medical residents volunteer approximately 1,500 hours a year in our community and see 35,799 patient visits in the clinic annually.
The SAVAHCS Director, Jennifer Gutowski, explains that “a partnership like this strengthens the long-standing relationships between SAVAHCS and academic medicine, uniting our shared missions of patient care, education, research, and community collaboration to enhance the health of Veterans and all Americans.”
“A goal is that this program gives our new doctors insight to the ambulatory structure of the VA while inspiring some of our residents to choose to work for the VA following their training with us,” adds Dr. Diaz. “We hope this is only the beginning of our partnership with the VA and that this collaboration continues to grow.”
The VA Secretary Denis McDonough sets the focus for VA and recognizes the benefits of partnerships like these. “Our VA health care priorities are our guiding stars: swiftly hiring top talent, connecting Veterans to timely, excellent care, addressing military environmental exposures, advancing reliability, supporting holistic well-being for Veterans and their families, and preventing Veteran suicide. These priorities reflect our unwavering commitment to those who’ve served our nation,” said McDonough.
