USA Health Family Medicine OB fellowship starts partnership with Andalusia Health
USA Health’s Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship is a one-year program that provides care to residents in rural and urban areas in Alabama where prenatal care is often nonexistent.
By Michelle Ryan
mryan@health.southalabama.edu
With a dual goal of providing much-needed prenatal care to patients and more experience to physicians early in their careers, USA Health’s Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship has launched a partnership with Andalusia Health in Covington County in south central Alabama. The move comes after the closure of the Monroe County Hospital labor and delivery unit in November 2023.
The Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship is a one-year program that provides care to residents in rural and urban areas in Alabama where prenatal care is often nonexistent.
Andalusia Health, an 88-bed acute care facility, has served south Alabama since 1966 and offers a wide range of diagnostic, therapeutic, emergency and surgical services.
Vickie Demers, B.S., M.B.A., M.H.A., CPPS, chief executive officer of Andalusia Health, is eager to partner with the USA Health Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship to help fill the growing need of physicians who provide care in rural areas.
“Rural settings require physicians to be able to take care of a wide range of patients, typically having less sub-specialists to work with and refer patients to,” she said. “This program trains physicians to take care of all ages of patients — from newborns through geriatrics – and we’re glad to be able to assist in preparing the future generation of doctors.”
Compared to the rest of the country, Alabama struggles with high infant and maternal mortality rates. But a program like this could make a significant impact.
“Students interested in rural medicine will have an opportunity to receive the training closer to home, and they will have the opportunity to help patients in the region,” said Allen Perkins, M.D., M.P.H., a family medicine physician at USA Health. “The patients will benefit the most. This program is bringing virtual access to patients who need high-risk maternity care, who may not have reliable transportation to get to Mobile. Hopefully, it will help to reduce both maternal and infant mortality in lower Alabama.”
Fellows receive instruction on obstetric ultrasounds, Cesarean sections, prenatal care including high-risk pregnancies, gynecological procedures, and telehealth. It is funded by the federal government through the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Two fellows are accepted each year from nationally accredited residency programs in family medicine.
Carson Klein, M.D., a family medicine physician in Andalusia who is serving as site coordinator for the program, completed a family practice/obstetrics program herself, so she knows firsthand the benefit of the USA Health partnership and the need.
"Family medicine-obstetrics physicians have a unique opportunity to help in the ever-growing shortage of both primary care and obstetrics care in rural Alabama and rural America,” she said. “To me, it speaks volumes to the healthcare community we are building at Andalusia Health that USA selected our community and hospital for these fellows' rural experience.”
While thoroughly patient-centered, the fellowship provides a rich context of academic medicine. USA Health is the only academic health system in lower Alabama and includes Children’s & Women’s Hospital, which has the only level III neonatal intensive care unit in the area, and University Hospital, which has the region’s only level I trauma center. The health system also offers stroke, sickle cell, and burn centers that provide care for the entire northern Gulf Coast.
At Andalusia Health, fellows will be working with local providers in the clinic setting and in the obstetrics department of the hospital. In addition to the Birthing Center, the hospital offers a wide range of services, including orthopaedics, stroke care, heart care, diagnostic imaging, physical therapy, urology, digestive health, lung care, and more.
Other program highlights include:
- Affiliations with Children’s & Women’s Hospital, with 3,500 deliveries per year, and Andalusia Health, a rural hospital with a labor unit and approximately 225 deliveries per year.
- Community-based collaboration with Evergreen Family Medical, a branch of Franklin Primary Health Center, to deliver prenatal care to residents of Conecuh County.
- Dedicated family medicine and OB/GYN faculty who are accessible and committed to education, providing both clinical supervision and expertise, plus rewarding mentorship.
