Message from the Program Director

I want to introduce you to a new Rural Family Medicine Residency Program that has been a vision and goal of a parish, hospital, and dedicated medical staff dating back many years. Claiborne Memorial Medical Center (CMMC) is the cornerstone of this program. Additionally, the sponsoring institution, Willis Knighton Health, historically provides strong support for this and other residency programs. With the guidance and commitment of CMMC administration and staff, we offer two (2) residents at each PGY level a unique opportunity to practice Family Medicine in a traditional rural setting. The primary care and community care rotations have been developed within the rural environment of Claiborne Parish. The specialty and subspecialty rotations will be assigned from the sponsoring institution located at sites in Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana.

The core faculty of Family Medicine Physicians has nearly 100 years of combined private practice experience. These physicians have been practicing in Claiborne Parish since completing their residencies, with pediatrics and internal medicine supporting core rotations in this rural setting.

The WK/CMMC Residency Program is located primarily in the Homer and Haynesville communities. CMMC is the site for inpatient, intensive, emergency and consultative care and training. Geriatric medicine will occur in clinic settings and local nursing facilities in the parish. Residents will also have an opportunity to be engaged in hospice and palliative care.

It is my intent, as it is of all the faculty and teaching hospitals, that a completion of this residency, the graduating physicians will be more than qualified to practice not only in a rural setting but be successful in any Family Medicine practice opportunity. Our residents will be educated in communities with a large percentage of the country’s most prevalent diagnoses and pathologies.

The residents will benefit from exceptional exposure to didactics and system-based learning. They will follow a structured schedule of conferences and lectures, with significant involvement from the residents. Opportunities for scholarly activity and research are abundant. These activities will be available in both rural and urban hospital settings.

My goal is to recruit and train residents who have an interest and insight into engaging with and investing in traditional patient relationships. These relationships have sustained and rewarded me during my forty years of rural family medicine practice. The staff and I aim to leave a legacy of exceptionally qualified physicians to practice and reside in rural communities in America.

I am anxiously awaiting your application request.

Sincerely,
Samuel K. Abshire, MD, FAAFP