Residency Program at the Seattle Indian Health Board
June 14, 2010
Fifteen years ago, Providence Medical Center (now Swedish Family Medicine) and the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) began a cooperative relationship with the shared goal of training doctors to practice in underserved communities. The SIHB site is only one of the Swedish Family Medicine Residency Program’s satellite sites. The residency program at SIHB offers residents from many different backgrounds the great opportunity to practice medicine among the  underserved urban American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population in Seattle, Washington. The SIHB clinic is a community clinic, and while the patient demographic varies, over half of patients seen are AI/AN and a large majority of patients are either covered by Medicaid or are uninsured.
After completing their residencies with SIHB, over half of graduates go on to practice medicine in urban, tribal, or IHS sites. LeeAnna Muzquiz, MD (Salish-Kootenai), a 2003 graduate of the program, came to the SIHB site from the nearby University of Washington. After completing her residency, LeeAnna brought her skills and knowledge home to her Native community where she helped build one of their first tribal clinics from scratch. SIHB assisted with providing educational materials at first, and now Dr. Muzquiz is the director of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribal Clinic in Polson, MT. The residency program at SIHB owes much of its success to SIHB’s and Swedish’s shared fundamental belief in working to benefit underserved communities and the remarkable ability of SIHB to offer residents the valuable opportunity to work with the local urban AI/AN population. |
Useful Links: Seattle Indian Health Board Website Swedish Family Medicine Residency Program Seattle Community Health Profile
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