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Norwegian and Erie
Welcome 8 New Family Medicine Residents
in Partnership with the
Northwestern McGaw Center for Graduate Medical Education
and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Residency Program first of its kind in
Chicago and one of only a few in U.S.
Norwegian American Hospital is
proud to announce its participation, along with Erie Family
Health Center and Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine, in a new family medicine residency program sponsored
by the Northwestern McGaw Center for Graduate Medical Education.
Significant startup funding for the program is being provided by
Northwestern Memorial Hospital. This unique collaboration is the
first of its kind in the Chicago metro area and one of only a
few in the United States.

Family Medicine Residents pose for a
picture during their orientation. From top to bottom
and left to right: Beth Dunlap, M.D.; Dorothy Dschida, M.D.;
Meredith Hirshfeld, M.D.; Stephanie Place, M.D.; Santina Wheat,
M.D.; Sylvia Ukonga, M.D.; Adianez Albelo, M.D.; and Jillian
Sturm, M.D.
Drawing on the abundant strengths of each institution, the
residency program focuses on preparing the next generation
ofprimary care physicians to serve in an urban, safety-net
health care setting. This new program was created to address the
changing needs of health care in this nation as exemplified by
the current national attention to the shortage of primary
carephysicians and access to care.
“The residency was enormously successful in its first
recruitment year and was able to fill all eight slots with
highly qualified and competitive students,” said Deborah Edberg,
M.D., Residency Program Director. “All are graduating with
excellent academic records and all have demonstrated strong
commitment to underserved care.”
Norwegian American Hospital and Erie Humboldt Park Health Center
will serve as the core training sites for the program. Residents
will do their primary hospital rotations at Norwegian, as well
as specialty rotations at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and
Children’s Memorial Hospital. It is anticipated that there will
be a total of 24 residents by year three of the program.
Norwegian and Erie family practice providers will provide
clinical supervision for the residents during their training.
The program gives residents the opportunity to train in an
outpatient setting at Erie with the academic support from
Feinberg School of Medicine.
“The collaboration is a very powerful combination that creates
an excellent learning environment,” said David Buchanan, M.D.,
Chief Medical Officer at Erie. “I am really proud because the
reality is the country needs more primary care providers. If we
want people to be experts in community care, which is what Erie
does, ultimately, we should participate and train the next
generation of providers.”
“The residency program has many profound impacts, especially for
the members of Humboldt Park and our surrounding communities,”
said Norwegian American Hospital Interim Administrator Myrna
Pedersen. “This week the family medicine residents are seeing
their first patients under the supervision of attending
physicians at our hospital.” There is a tremendous need for more
primary care providers in our country--especially among those
with little to no health insurance. This new residency program
helps to fill this gap by training a new family practice
workforce of highly skilled, culturally competent physicians.
For more information on the family medicine residency and to
meet our new residents, please visit
Norwegian American Hospital
or
Erie Family Health Center.
Norwegian American Hospital
Care-A-Van
Day
May 20th, 2010
Cook County Board of Commissioners
Proclaims May 20 “Norwegian American
Hospital
Care-A-Van Day” in Cook County
Elected officials and other special
guests join Norwegian American Hospital as they celebrate its
Pediatric Care-A-Van. On May 4, the Cook County Board of
Commissioners passed a resolution to honor Norwegian’s pediatric
medical mobile unit program and declare May 20, 2010 as
“Norwegian American Hospital Care-A-Van Day” in Cook County.
Norwegian’s
Pediatric Care-A-Van, Chicago’s largest, multi-use pediatric
mobile unit, targets underserved children regardless of their
ability to pay in the Humboldt Park and West Town communities.
The Pediatric Care-A-Van provides high quality health care
services directly to children and their families by going to
schools, day cares and community centers. It also links these
children and their families with an appropriate primary care
system for further care when needed. Since instituting the
program, the Pediatric Care-A-Van has provided approximately
19,660 individual services for children and adults, including
4,080 immunizations.

Left to Right: NAH Board
Members Myrna Petersen and Marta Cerda, NAH Board Chairman Pat
Driscoll, Cook County Board President Todd Stronger, NAH V.P.
Tim Egan, 8th District Cook County Commissioner Edwin Reyes.