Camarena Kids Pediatric Center

As part of our Aspire to Inspire the teaching health center program initiative, we partnered with Valley Children’s PediatricResidency Program to launch our first continuity clinic at our Camarena Kids PediatricCenter in Madera. Our goal in launching a continuity clinic site is to strengthen our healthcare workforce by training residents in a primary care setting that would provide a longitude of our community’s healthcare needs.

Our Camarena Kids PediatricCenter is home to four residents who provide primary care to our pediatric patients, ideally the term of their residency. The residents come into the clinic every week during their three-year training and work alongside our attending physicians, Dr. Janae Barker and Dr. Mireya Samaniego.

For the residents, coming into the continuity clinic is like an extended learning period. They get to start practicing and seeing patients in a supervised environment. Here, the goal is to provide continuity of care, schedule visits, examine patients, check patient history, and check-in with parents.

The residents are supervised by their attending who works with them, helping to evaluate their physical exam skills and planning skills. The attending role is to teach, guide, and help the residents.

Continuity clinics provide residents with the opportunity to see a diverse array of patients, depending on the community you might see different patient populations. No matter the population, however, the goal is to provide preventative care. The continuity clinic is a positive environment for them to learn, they aren’t afraid or embarrassed when asking questions

So far, everyone with a hand in Camarena Health’s continuity clinic has been overjoyed with the impact of the program. The medical assistants and staff have been enjoying the program, and have been a large part of the residents’ education as well. Dr. Samaniego, one of the attendings for the program said, “The medical assistants and staff are an integral part of the resident’s training, they have additional knowledge they can share with the physicians, the training is a team effort.”Dr. Samaniego tries to encourage her residents to learn from other physicians at the clinic too, while they aren’t supervisors, they have a wealth of knowledge to provide as well, “They’ve really flourished, changed and become more confident.” Dr. Samaniego said of the residents.

Dr. Samaniego’s own experience with the program has been overwhelmingly positive. It is important to her to be involved in medical education and physician training, especially in underserved clinics and communities. “When you allow them to work at clinics like ours, you introduce them to these populations and it opens their eyes and helps them to see that they could be important players in providing care.”