Phoebe Putney welcomes new medical residents to Albany

ALBANY — Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital introduced six new resident physicians to the Phoebe Family Medicine Residency program Wednesday at an annual welcoming ceremony at the hospital, along with three others who will be training primarily through a new program at Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

The residents were formally introduced to the community, presented with the traditional white lab coat and pager, and welcomed with gifts from businesses by the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Class of 2019 includes Drs. Stephen Daniel, Laura De Simone, Theresa Kowalski, Maria Kyriacou, Joseph Mariano and Serena Miller. The residents will train with Phoebe Family Medicine for three years to become eligible for board certification in family medicine.

Program Director Dr. George Fredrick said the recruitment process takes place over the course of several months before the final group is selected. The fresh-faced physicians making up the new class, three of whom did rotations in the Albany area as medical students, will be beginning the program on Monday.

“This is the culmination of a very, very long process that begins in September (and involves) many interviews, dinners and lunches,” he said.

Fredrick also introduced the inaugural class of the Georgia South Family Medicine Residency program at Colquitt Regional — Drs. Jessica Brumfield, Michael Magat and Marcos Hur. Colquitt Regional will host three residents per year, with a total of nine at capacity, and provides a track through which the residents will spend their first several months at Phoebe before going back to Moultrie.

The lab coats and pagers were presented by Phoebe Chief of Staff Dr. Ed Vance and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Kitchen. Chamber of Commerce Chair Ed Newsome presented the gifts to the residents on behalf of the community.

Phoebe Putney Health System Joel Wernick described the program, which has been active for more than 20 years, as unique, in part because it is the only one based in Albany. It also provides an opportunity for rural health care education, something officials have endeavored for years to expand.

“You get to see a whole bunch of stuff others might not see,” he said.

Each year, the ceremony features a notable guest speaker to welcome the incoming class to the program. The speaker for this year’s ceremony was state Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville. He is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, member of the Natural Resources and the Environment, and Regulated Industries and Utilities and Rules committees, and ex-officio member of the Finance Committee.

Hill spoke on the ongoing effort to produce residency slots throughout Georgia, which are in high demand.

“Georgia is the eighth most populated state … so there is a need beyond the rural areas,” he said.

While in the residency program, the physicians will work in multiple clinical areas at the hospital and around Albany. Phoebe’s program can now graduate eight physicians in each class versus the five it was graduating previously.

State economic development officials say the impact a doctor has on a community is roughly $1 million. Numerous studies show that most physicians continue to practice in or near the community where their residency is completed, and 70 percent of those who graduate from the Phoebe program remain in Georgia, with more than half practicing in Southwest Georgia.