DATE: August 26, 2008
CONTACTS: Leah Sirrine – West Shore Medical Center – (231)398-1189
Barbara Gordon-Kessel – Munson Healthcare – (231)935-3390


West Shore Partnership with Munson To Bring MSU Medical Students to Manistee

West Shore Medical Center will have an opportunity to work with medical students from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine following a recent agreement between Munson Medical Center and the university.

Munson and MSU have agreed to establish a new medical education campus in northern Michigan that will bring third- and fourth-year medical students into hospitals and physician practices across the region.

The partnership creates the medical school’s seventh community campus, its only campus in northern lower Michigan, and the first new campus in more than 30 years.

“This represents an exciting opportunity for hospitals in the Munson Healthcare System and other regional health care providers,” said Doug Deck, President and CEO of Munson Healthcare. “We welcome the MSU College of Human Medicine’s plans to expand in northern Michigan.”

As an affiliate hospital in the Munson network, Manistee will benefit in several ways from the establishment of the medical education campus.

“Medical students can bring a fresh perspective to the community’s health care,” said Burt Parks, president of West Shore Medical Center. “In turn, the students will have the opportunity to interact with the very capable team of physicians and clinical staff that practice at West Shore. About half of our current physicians came to Manistee within a year of completing their residencies and have continued to practice in our community. Their experience will be helpful to the MSU students.”

“A major advantage of the MSU expansion is in the recruitment of new physicians to Manistee,” Parks continued. “Having an adequate number of physicians, as well as a mix of specialists, is one of the biggest challenges facing hospitals—especially those in rural areas. More than half of the physicians in their final year of residency are contacted dozens of times by recruiters, and 70% narrow down their top choices a year or more before completing residency. It will be a great advantage to introduce medical students to our hospital and region before they begin their residencies.”

MSU College of Human Medicine Dean Marsha D. Rappley, M.D., believes the partnership benefits the college as well, as it expands its medical school to meet health care issues such as the projected physician shortage in the state.

“We believe community-based medical schools are part of the solution to the challenges facing health care across this nation,” she said. “MSU College of Human Medicine is recognized nationally for advancing this concept into the next era of health care and we’re delighted Munson has agreed to become an anchor for our newest campus.”

In addition to its seventh community campus in Traverse City, MSU College of Human Medicine has six community campuses located in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Flint and the Upper Peninsula.

Since 1996, Munson Medical Center and the MSU Colleges of Human Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine have collaborated on a Family Practice Residency Program that annually trains 15 residents at the Munson Family Practice Center. The residents have worked on a rotating basis since 2007 in West Shore Medical Center’s emergency department.

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