New Rural Street Medicine Training Program

A federal grant will help St. Luke’s University Health Network expand care for the medically underserved populations of rural Carbon and Schuylkill counties.

St. Luke’s plans to use the $1.94 million, 5-year grant (from the Primary Care Training and Enhancement Residency Training in Street Medicine (PCTE-RTSM) initiative) to develop a Street Medicine Academic Tract within its Carbon (Rural) Family Medicine Residency program. Specifically, the grant will help St. Luke’s enhance rural family medicine residency training, equipping residents to deliver compassionate, high-quality care to individuals facing homelessness and opioid addiction.

“Meeting patients where they are takes special training and skills to help reduce barriers to healthcare,” said Danielle Godfrey, St. Luke’s Manager for Graduate Medical Education (GME) Rural Programs. “Our rural family medicine residents will learn how to best provide primary and preventative care in places like rural shelters, food pantries, in mobile outreach units and in other community settings that are often underserved.”

“In these counties, there’s an under-appreciated need and there are more and more individuals experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity,” she added.

St. Lukes’s Carbon (Rural) Family Medicine Residency program already features some street-medicine training, but the grant will allow it to develop a full Street Medicine Academic Tract. Residents will participate in structured clinical rotations that include telemedicine plus working in shelters and mobile-outreach units. They will also receive expanded behavioral health and addiction medicine training.

The grant will also allow St. Luke’s to establish Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs). The MLPs will train residents in legal advocacy and help patients secure Medicaid, disability benefits, and housing stability services.

Carbon (Rural) Family Medicine Residency program director Dr. Thomas McGinley and associate program director Dr. Greg Dobash pursued the grant after identifying the need for expanded street medicine in Carbon and Schuylkill counties. About 100 organizations applied for the grant. St. Luke’s was one of 24 to receive funding.

“This is a unique training option that will attract medical school graduates seeking specialized Rural Street Medicine training and experiences that they just can’t get elsewhere. Our local patients benefit by having medical and academic leaders that take Rural Street Medicine seriously, provide direct care, and are training the next generation of Family Medicine physicians to do the same,” Godfrey said.