EVERETT — The first wave of students at Washington State University’s new medical school will arrive in Everett during the next school year — at least for short stays.
Fifteen students will spend a week at a time — six weeks total during their first two years of studies — in Everett, hopefully, to begin to grow roots in the community.
“We really want them to feel like they’re a part of this community and not just here to do a rotation and leave,” said John Tomkowiak, the WSU medical school dean.
To prepare for the arrival, the university is seeking families who will house the students. This “billet program” will allow the students to become familiar with the town and surrounding communities and also connect with local families.
“We hope to have 15 students on this campus so we’re looking for 15 potential billets going forward,” Tomkowiak said.
During the third- and fourth-years of medical schools, the same students will train in Everett and the surrounding towns, but will be responsible to find their own housing. Even so, Tomkowiak hopes that the students will remain in contact with the host families.
WSU is just getting the medical school under way. In 2015, the Legislature gave approval and funding for the university to start just the second public medical school in the state.
The Floyd College of Medicine, named after WSU’s late president, Elson Floyd, received preliminary accreditation this fall. The medical school is a community-based training model where students will spend the first two years doing classroom work in Spokane, but then get more clinical experience and more classroom work either by remaining in Spokane or studying in Everett, the Tri-Cities or Vancouver.
In Everett, WSU has reached agreements with Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and The Everett Clinic to help teach the medical students. More than 680 people applied for just 60 spots by late November. The school is only taking students from Washington or those with ties to the state.
“I think it’s exciting to think about that in just a few short months, we’ll have that first group of 60 medical students showing up ready to be our inaugural class, ” said Kirk Schulz, WSU’s president, at celebration of the accreditation in Everett in October.
From the beginning, students will be assigned to each of the four communities. The medical school is also recruiting staff including an associate dean to start as soon as next spring in each of the towns. That way, the students will have support when they arrive for their one-week stays.
One of the goals for the program is to train doctors who are willing to practice in rural and under-served urban areas, Tomkowiak said. Studies have shown that the best way to do that is to actually train them in those communities.
“We want to create this continuum where they have this opportunity to grow up, come from an area, train in medical school there, do their residency program and be able to stay and practice,” Tomkowiak said. “I think we have that model all mapped out and ready to go.”
To learn more
Families intersted in hosting medical students can contact Cheryl Blackburn at cheryl.blackburn@wsu.edu or 425-405-1712. WSU will host informational sessions with the community in 2017.
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