GREENFIELD — A new program touted for the opportunity it will offer young doctors to better integrate themselves into the community is doing exactly that with the start of a new shadowing program through the Greenfield Health Department.

In partnership with the Health Department, the five students involved in Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program, which kicked off in July, will shadow public health officials to help them better understand the public health issues local residents face.

“(The program) is trying to bring public health to light with family medicine,” Health Director Jennifer Hoffman said during this week’s Board of Health meeting. “I think that’s a great thing. The first resident we met with didn’t know certain things that go on in the real world that are public health, but then how it reflects back into someone’s general health.”

Dr. Chandra Hartman, program director for the Baystate Franklin Family Medicine Residency Program, said doctors have a “vested interest” in supporting public health.

“Engaging our medical residents early in the process links them to the clinical value of public health and helps ‘root’ them to our communities,” Hartman explained in a statement. “Our program is committed to training community-oriented clinicians, and this is one concrete and early example of that focus and commitment.”

Residents will spend three years in the Family Medicine Residency Program, according to Dr. Robert Baldor, founding chair and professor for the University of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate Department of Family Medicine. They will not only work out of Baystate Franklin’s family medical practice at 48 Sanderson St. under doctors’ and professors’ guidance, seeing patients on a regular basis, but they will also practice within the hospital across the street.

July’s launch of the residency program comes as the area continues to struggle with a shortage of primary care providers. According to County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a program of the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute that is used to measure the health of nearly every county in all 50 states, Franklin County had a patient-to-provider ratio of 1,280-to-1 in 2019; in 2022, that ratio had increased to 1,530-to-1. By comparison, the state average in 2022 is 960-to-1. The hope with Baystate Franklin’s program is to retain the residents who go through it.

The second student was expected to meet with the Health Department on Thursday.

“I will be meeting with her first,” Hoffman said. “We talk about public health, the stages of public health and what our goals are.”

While the day-to-day operation of the Health Department is wide-ranging, there are a few “bread and butter” responsibilities, such as restaurant and building inspections, Hoffman said. Health departments, however, also deal with disease management, housing and hoarding issues, and senior concerns.

“It helps physicians think outside the box in some ways about how the world around somebody could affect their lives,” she said.

Hoffman said she sees the program as a way to provide doctors with a more full picture when it comes to the patients they see.

“It always helps to have physicians on board when you have a (public health) challenge that you really want to work on,” Hoffman added. “Having doctors and physicians see (the challenge) is helpful.”

Board of Health appointment

Further increasing the residency program’s ties to the community is resident Dr. John Romano, who was recently appointed to the Board of Health.

“Dr. Romano and his colleagues are superb clinicians, and our community is very lucky to have them,” Hartman commented.

Romano will fill the seat of former Chair Nancee Bershof, who resigned in July after two years in the role. Alyssa Valbona now serves as chair.

“I’m super excited to be part of the board,” said Romano, “and to be working with this group and learning more about this wonderful community.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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