Winter Park Becomes an Academic Campus

Winter Park Memorial Hospital Becomes an Academic Campus and Opens New Medical Office Building

The new building will house the Centre for Family Medicine and Family Medicine Residency Program

WINTER PARK, Fla., July 14, 2010 - With the shortage of primary care physicians growing across the United States, Winter Park Memorial Hospital is becoming an academic campus in the Florida Hospital system to help train more physicians to care for the Central Florida community. The Florida Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, which has been a part of Florida Hospital for more than 35 years, will be relocating to Winter Park Memorial Hospital to provide a more community based setting for residents training in family medicine. The program focuses on teaching resident physicians through a specialty training program designed to advance physician skills, knowledge and experience.

"Together, our faculty physicians and resident physicians form a partnership that allows us to provide families with the best care possible," said Dr. Jennifer Keehbauch, director of the Florida Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. "We are extremely excited to move into the new facility and continue caring for the Central Florida community."

The family medicine residents will receive instruction from physicians with the Centre for Family Medicine. With 12 board-certified faculty physicians and 42 resident physicians, the Centre for Family Medicine will provide the local community with access to the best and most comprehensive care in a convenient setting. The Centre and the residency program will be located in the new 36,500-square-foot medical office building adjacent to Winter Park Memorial Hospital. The new $7 million building also represents an investment in the community to provide community members with better access to primary care physicians close to home. 

"With the opening of this building we hope that Winter Park Memorial Hospital can better serve the needs of the community," said Ken Bradley, administrator of Winter Park Memorial Hospital. "We want to be able to offer a convenient setting for people to get access to high quality health care, and I believe that this building is one step closer to helping us accomplish that goal."

More than 200 graduates of the Florida Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program have stayed in the Central Florida area upon completion of the program. The shortage of primary care physicians is expected to reach 40,000 by the year 2025. Currently, Florida faces the third largest physician shortage in the nation.

www.floridahopsitalnews.com

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