HILO — With the announcement of its third class of physician residents last Friday, the Hawaii Island Family Medicine Residency Program has reached a milestone.
For the first time since it began in 2014 as a means of addressing Hawaii Island’s doctor shortage, it will have its full complement of doctors: a dozen in all.
“It’s huge,” said program director Dr. Mary Nordling.
Vincent Giani, Ashley Noelani Kong, Tereza Molfino and Kapaakea Charles Puaa begin their residencies in July, joining inaugural class Hamed Ahmadinia, Kaohimanu Dang Akiona, Svetlana Shchedrina and Seren Tokumura, and second-year residents Will Chapple, Tuy-Ngoc Nguyen, Karen Rayos and Gaku Yamaguchi.
Residencies last three years and provide specialized training for physicians following medical school. Doctors are matched via the National Resident Matching Program.
The residency program didn’t exist when Chapple, 32, first started medical school at the University of Wisconsin. Having grown up in Kona, he wanted to come back to the Big Island to work, and had initially emailed Hilo Medical Center about doing a rotation.
Finding out about the upcoming residency opportunity on his home island — the program was still in its developmental stages — was even better. Administered by Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the residency matches doctors with patients at the Hawaii Island Family Medicine clinic. The physicians also work at the Hilo Medical Center.
With this year’s incoming class, “We did very well,” Chapple said.
The four incoming residents also have strong Hawaii ties, something that the program coordinators and faculty specifically look for when reading applications.
Studies have indicated that many doctors tend to put down roots in the area where they completed their residencies. According to a 2012 American Medical Association report, 86 percent of Hawaii’s physicians were practicing in-state because of such programs.
More than 700 doctors applied for the spots available this year.
“We went through all of them,” Nordling said.
Applicants thought to be good fits for the program were sent a supplemental questionnaire featuring Hawaii-related questions.
Incoming residents Giani and Molfino had previously done rotations in Hilo. Puaa’s family has “deep roots” on Molokai and Oahu, according to an HMC release. Kong was born and raised in Hawaii.
“I am well aware of the shortage of physicians on the Big Island, and I am ready to do my part to change that,” Molfino, who lives in Kona, said.
The number of doctors choosing to specialize in family medicine was up this year, said residency administrator Carol Galper.
“A lot of people want to do it because they like the continuity (of being with the same patients),” she said.
The full operating cost for the program last year was about $3.6 million. For the past two years, it has received $2 million in funding from the governor’s budget. That line item is also on the 2016-17 budget.
Fundraising from the Hilo Medical Center Foundation provides additional support, but “residency programs are not money makers,” Galper said. “They’re an investment on the part of the community.”
The Hilo Medical Center’s program is one of two residencies in the state. In addition to physician training, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and psychologists also participate.
The announcement of the new class means that new patient applications also are being accepted at the clinic.