It takes a diverse team for REACH Niagara to provide care to the homeless and marginalized in Niagara, and resident physicians are an important part of it. Since 2018, REACH clients have had more than 650 interactions with resident doctors and medical students who have provided care with REACH either in a shelter or on the REACH Niagara Mobile Health Clinic, powered by TELUS Health.
Resident Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise awareness about the role of medical residents and express our gratitude to these doctors for their commitment to delivering high-quality care to patients.
“We are thankful for the resident physicians and medical students who help us bring care to those who need it most in our region,” says Dr. Karl Stobbe, REACH Niagara Medical Director. “During training, resident physicians get hands-on experience in a community medical setting, and our patients receive care that they may not have gotten otherwise.”
Resident physicians are doctors who have completed a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program and are undergoing specialized training ahead of independent practice. Residents play a role in several aspects of patient care at REACH Niagara, including consulting with patients, diagnosing conditions, and administering treatments.
REACH Niagara works to provide valuable learning experiences to medical students and resident physicians. This includes providing trauma-informed care and provider-level advocacy for marginalized populations.
“Social accountability and care of marginalized populations are often discussed in abstract during medical school. Once entering the hospital setting, these principles sometimes do not translate into practice. My elective experience with REACH added faces and names to the hypothetical stories and statistics we cover in lectures. I learned about what trauma-informed care and provider-level advocacy looks like in practice,” states a medical student who completed an elective with REACH Niagara.
Thank you to all the residents at REACH Niagara and across Niagara for their dedication and excellence in providing care.