TRUST Program
The Central Washington Family Medicine Residency Program (CWFMR), a service of Community Health of Central Washington, a funded Teaching Health Center, provides a rich experience for students seeking opportunities for service to rural and/or underserved populations. Students learn to provide community based comprehensive and continuous ambulatory care to medically underserved patients representative of the cultural, socio-economic and demographic diversity of the Yakima and Kittitas Valleys.
The TRUST program provides full spectrum Family Medicine training including OB, integrated behavioral health, osteopathic medicine, procedural training and inpatient pediatric and adult medicine.
CWFMR has been preparing physicians and students for service to rural and underserved populations since 1993 and is proud to partner with the UW’s Targeted Rural/Underserved Track (TRUST) program.
Curriculum – Linking TRUST Students with the Community
- Participation in rural/underserved community activities
- RUOP clinical experience with exposure to either an urban Hispanic population (Yakima) or a rural population (Ellensburg)
- Elective rotation with senior residents in Yakima learning about evidenced based medicine, cultural competency, and community oriented primary care research
- Third year Family Medicine clerkship and fourth year Family Medicine sub-internship in Yakima or Ellensburg to experience clinic and hospital care in an underserved or rural setting
- Exposure to outpatient clinical procedures typically performed by rural family physicians including OB procedural training during the student’s OB clerkship in Yakima
- Fourth year electives with sub-specialists working as referral physicians for the rural and underserved communities to learn about skills and knowledge needed for care delivery in underserved (Yakima) and rural (Ellensburg) settings
- EHR training in both hospital and community clinic settings to minimize learning curve in future practice settings
- Participation in team based care using the medical home model with integrated behavioral health, group visits for chronic disease management, and on-site ancillary services, e.g., lab, x-ray, pharmacy (Yakima) and pharmacy (Ellensburg)
- TRUST experience may provide a pathway to early acceptance into the CWFMR program with the final medical school rotations completed in either Yakima or Ellensburg
- Early acceptance into residency outside of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) by a TRUST scholar is by request of the UW and by sole approval of the NRMP
Quality of Life
Yakima, Ellensburg, and Kittitas Valley are great places to live. They’re “family friendly” with affordable housing, stable economy, progressive educational opportunities for children and adults, and many days of sunshine per year.
The changing seasons create an ever-changing panorama of sights and colors. The irrigated lands produce a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products including apples, mint, hops, hay, and cattle.
Enjoy Life in Yakima and Ellensburg
Yakima, an ethnically diverse community of 85,000, is situated in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains, with lush evergreen forests, desert and sagebrush, snowy mountain peaks, flatlands, and flowering meadows, all within minutes of the city. Unique year-round outdoor recreational opportunities include camping, biking, hiking, fishing, skiing, golfing, and swimming. Other favorites are local and national theatre, art galleries, museums, historical sites, music festivals, the weekly Farmers’ Market, Native American and Cinco de Mayo celebrations, and professional and amateur sports. The Yakima Valley is well known for its wine industry, as many award-winning wines are produced locally.
Ellensburg, population 12,000, is located in the heart of the beautiful Kittitas Valley which is framed by rugged mountains, rolling hills, wide open spaces and a river. The Ellensburg Rodeo, the Farmers’ Market, Jazz in the Valley, Winter Hop BrewFest, Whiskey Dick Triathlon, and Ellensburg Film Festival offer year round community activity. Warm sunny summer days, sweet powder on the mountains and endless forested trails make the Kittitas Valley an outdoor enthusiast’s dream. Every kind of sportsman will find activity here.
