Teaching Health Center Planning and Development Program - a. Eligible Entity: Rural Health Clinic. San Luis Walk-In Clinic, Inc., (SLWIC), a subsidiary corporation of the Regional Center for Border Health, Inc. (RCBH). Project Director: Amanda Aguirre, President and CEO; Regional Center for Border Health, Inc. 950 E. Main Street, Building A. Somerton, AZ 85350 amanda@rcfbh.org, (928) 315-7910 b. Residency Type: Family Medicine c. Funding Preference: Requested for affiliation with Western Arizona Area Health Education Center (WAHEC) a subsidiary program of the RCBH. d. Population Target Area: Yuma County, Arizona, emphasizing south County, adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Cocopah Tribal Nation. Yuma County’s (2020) population is 203,881; south County residents total 49,545. Yuma County has Arizona’s largest Hispanic / Latino population majority (65.5%). People who live in Yuma County earn less income and have less formal education compared with Arizonans as a whole. Poverty rates, unemployment, and lack of insurance demonstrate significant economic disparities; many residents struggle to satisfy basic household needs and residents living closer to the U.S.-Mexico border, cities with high Hispanic/Latino populations, are more likely to experience poverty, barriers to health services, and poorer health status. The County has health professional shortages for primary care, dental health, and mental health. The City of Yuma is designated a federal Medically Underserved Area (MUA) and Yuma, San Luis and Somerton) are designated Arizona MUA. e. Funding Amount Requested: $500,000 (direct and indirect, two-year total) f. Projected Resident Positions: Two family medicine residents per year, six residents for the 3-year cohort. h. Expected Accreditation and Resident Matriculation:ACGME accreditation through signed Consortium Affiliation Agreement, July 2023. Residency matriculation, July 2025. The Regional Border Health - Family Medicine Residency Consortium will create a unique, experiential, inter-professional learning environment for Residents (2 per year, 6 per cohort) to practice community-based, integrated family medicine in a rural, border (U.S.-Mexico), multi-cultural region. The application’s Workplan and Methodology presents three program objectives, five sub-objectives, and twenty-six program activities. Program milestones include: (1) Legal formation of the Residency Consortium; (2) Clinical faculty and curriculum development; and (3) Strategic plan for sustainability. Achieving these milestones will reduce physician shortages, increase access to health services, and decrease health disparities. The RCBH is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1987 as the Western Arizona Area Health Education Center. In 2002, the RCBH formed a subsidiary corporation DBA the San Luis Walk-In Clinic, Inc.. Today, SLWIC operates nine federally designated rural health clinics, five in south County and the San Luis Medical Mall, a 68,000 square foot facility for out-patient surgery, integrated primary / behavioral care, urgent care, cancer infusion, woman's health, wellness, pharmacy, and medical diagnostics. The RCBH employs four hundred fifty-nine staff members including fourteen physicians, seventeen mid-level providers, and nine behavioral health clinicians. Community service remains a RCBH hallmark; thirty trained (most certified) outreach specialists are employed as family care workers, and/or direct care workers. The WAHEC maintains program affiliation agreements with three state universities and clinical affiliation with multiple state and local organizations. Two Residency Program Staff are already contracted: Galarza, MD, (Program Director, .25FTE) and Driesen, PHD (Site Coordinator, .5FTE). RCBH employees (Gladney, IT Director, .10FTE) and (Ezroj, WAHEC Director, 2FTE) are designated in-kind, as are Clinical Lead Faculty who are Board-certified in: Pediatrics (Calabrese, MD), Family Medicine (Senmani, MD), Internal Medicine (Rose, MD) and Psychiatry (Marti
