Kaweah Delta and University of Southern California sign affiliation agreement
Kaweah Delta and University of Southern California sign affiliation agreement
VISALIA – In an effort to expose medical students to more rural and
underserved patient populations, and to attract more doctors to the area,
Kaweah Delta’s medical education programs are now affiliated with
the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Kaweah
Delta Health Care District remains an independent publically-owned organization.
Through the affiliation, Kaweah Delta becomes one of a handful of sites
where USC medical students can choose to complete a four-week rotation
as part of their required curriculum. The agreement allows for up to six
USC medical students – two in Obstetrics and Gynecology, two in
Family Medicine, and two in Psychiatry – to rotate at Kaweah Delta
at any given time. Additional specialties are expected to be added over
time. As part of the affiliation, physician faculty members of Kaweah
Delta’s residency programs will receive volunteer clinical faculty
appointments at USC.
“We are very excited about this new affiliation with Kaweah Delta
and the opportunity it will provide our students to work with patients
from a rural, agricultural area,” said Dr. Laura Mosqueda, dean
of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “By experiencing first-hand
the issues these patients face, our students can discover the value of
serving as their advocates as well as their health care providers, in
addressing those issues.”
For Kaweah Delta, the affiliation serves as a pipeline to attract high
quality medical students to Visalia, who may choose to apply to one of
Kaweah Delta’s existing residency programs. Kaweah Delta has accredited
residency programs in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, family medicine,
psychiatry, general surgery, and transitional year. Each year, thousands
of candidates apply for just 47 annual intern positions in Kaweah Delta’s
six residency programs. Kaweah Delta has a total of 120 residents in various
stages of training.
“Our hope is that they will see what we have to offer at Kaweah Delta
and fall in love,” said Dr. Lori Winston, Kaweah Delta’s Vice
President of Medical Education. “Bringing these medical students
here is a chance to expose them to patients they wouldn’t normally
see in downtown L.A. We hope they will ultimately apply for a residency
program here and then stay to practice medicine in the Valley.”
One aspect of the Kaweah Delta rotation that caught the attention of USC,
was its emerging Street Medicine Program, led by Omar Guzman, M.D. Kaweah
Delta Street medicine is centered around meeting people with housing insecurities
where they live, to provide them with health and social services. Dr.
Guzman also supervises medical students at the Samaritan Center, which
provides free medical services for the working poor and uninsured of Tulare
County, and at a local warming center.
“This is an appealing rotation because a medical student will have
many more opportunities to directly provide patient care to rural and
underserved patients,” said Dr. Winston, noting that Kaweah Delta
is just one of several affiliated sites where medical students can provide
direct patient care. “When medical students hear about those opportunities,
their eyes just light up.”
Another plus for medical students opting for a Kaweah Delta rotation is
the development of student residential facilities in downtown Visalia
within close proximity to Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Winston said. “It’s
a safe, secure and convenient place for them to live,” she said.