Phoebe residents don white coats, go to work
Special Photo: Phoebe
By Carlton Fletcher
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ALBANY — Seven new residents donned their traditional white coats during a ceremony at Phoebe Putney Health System’s HealthWorks facility Wednesday, continuing a tradition of welcoming new doctors who will spend three years as part of the Phoebe Family Medicine Residency program.
The seven — Drs. Florida Twentor, Tsvetelina Stoyanova, Danielle Pham, David Dukes, Jose Stervil Desinor, Jordan Bradwell and Christiana Anyanwu — were introduced, praised, celebrated and showered with traditional “gift wagons” loaded with products donated by local businesses.
It was an eventful and memorable morning for the seven … but now the hard work begins.
“You are coming in at an exciting time for Phoebe and Albany,” Health System President/CEO Scott Steiner told the residents.
After keynote speaker Dr. Frances Ferguson, a primary care physician at Albany Area Primary Health Care who previously worked at the National Institutes of Health, admonished the residents to honor their “calling” with their work at Phoebe, outgoing Family Medicine Residency Director Dr. Bill Fricks and his replacement in the program, Dr. Clifford Dunn, presented the coveted white coats to the seven residents.
“Primary care medicine is a calling,” Ferguson said. “You were chosen for this practice. And I share with all of you what my mother always told me: ‘In all things you do … put God first; trust Him and ask Him to guide you.’”
Dukes, who completed studies at Hampton University and the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, said Wednesday’s ceremony was the realization of a long-held dream.
“I’ve always wanted to be a physician for as long as I can remember, and this is the manifestation of it all coming to fruition,” the Atlanta resident said. “So (Wednesday) was just one of the best days of my entire life.
“Everyone is so friendly; I feel right at home. I’m looking forward to being part of the community and learning a lot.”
An emotional Fricks, who is leaving Phoebe to open a private practice in Newnan, encouraged the residents to savor Wednesday’s ceremony.
“These white coats symbolize trust, education, competence, care … a lot of things,” he said. “But, bottom line, this is one of the great traditions of the medical practice.”
Steiner noted that the class of 2023 residents — Drs. Krystal Archer, Vadley Faugue, Sheldon Herbert, Joshua Kinsey, Miriam Onyegbula, Juan Serna-Gonzalez, Joseph Sonntag and Isaac Su — will graduate Saturday, bringing the total number of graduates in the history of the program to 162. Four of the eight ‘23 grads of the Phoebe residency program will practice medicine in Georgia.
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