MOREHEAD CITY — Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine is excited to announce its most recent affiliation agreement with a community hospital in rural eastern North Carolina – Carteret Health Care.
Dr. John M. Kauffman, Jr., dean of the medical school, and Mr. Dick Brvenik, president and CEO of Carteret Health Care, announced that the partnership in medical education will begin in August 2017 with a small cohort of third or fourth year medical students on a month rotation and will grow into larger cohorts in 2018.
“This is very positive,” said Mr. Brvenik. “We’re very excited by this and will have more information as we get further into the development of the medical education program with Campbell.”
“We are very, very excited about the opportunity to work with Carteret hospital and the good people of Morehead City,” said Dr. Kauffman.
Campbell has six regional clinical campuses spread across North Carolina from Salisbury now to Morehead City with over 300 medical students training in community hospitals. Four of Campbell’s affiliate hospitals – Southeastern Health, Cape Fear Valley Health, Harnett Health, and Sampson Regional Medical Center – also developed new residency programs as part of their relationship with Campbell so that physicians can continue their medical training in their communities.
“Physicians are 50% more likely to remain in the community where they complete their residency training after medical school,” said Dr. Kauffman. “This is why we are committed to relationships with North Carolina community hospitals – our students will train there and some will continue to provide healthcare in their new hometown for the rest of their lives.”
The inaugural class will graduate on May 20, 2017, and in keeping with Campbell’s mission, several members of the Class of 2017 have already committed to continuing their medical training in residency in North Carolina.
“I am from upstate New York, but I have grown to call Fayetteville my home,” said Rachel Dellehunt (CUSOM 2017). “I loved caring for and learning from the Fayetteville community during my time at Cape Fear Valley as a medical student. Continuing my training here through residency presents a unique opportunity to practice at a large, community-based hospital with a diverse, rural population and many of the same advanced technologies that larger academic hospitals provide. The commitment of the physicians and healthcare providers to passionately care for patients and educate students was very appealing to me during my search for residency programs. I am very excited to start my General Surgery Residency at Cape Fear Valley in a few short months and begin to give back to the community that I now call home.”
Carteret Health Care already enjoys hosting Campbell student pharmacists for fourth year rotations and both organizations look forward to this new collaboration bringing the next generation of physicians to Morehead City.