Seattle Indian Health Board Training Site
The mission of the Seattle Indian Health Board is to assist American Indians and Alaska Natives in the achievement of the highest possible physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being through the provision of culturally appropriate services, and to advocate for American Indian people, especially the most vulnerable members of our community. Within this mission, the SIHB Board of Directors established a goal of developing opportunities to train American Indians, Alaska Natives, and others in the health profession for service to Indian people. In support of this goal, the SIHB has an agreement with the Swedish/Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency Program to provide care in the clinic at the SIHB Leschi campus. This site has two residents in each of three years of training.
The goal of the SIHB residency is to prepare family physicians for careers in Indian health care, particularly in tribal Indian Health Service (IHS) and urban Indian health facilities. This goal is met by providing training in an environment designed to address the unique cultural and health problems faced by Native Americans. Drawing upon the extensive experience and diversity of SIHB staff and employees, residents will have special opportunities to learn about Indian health. These opportunities include participation in community outreach and collaboration with traditional health practitioners.
The residency gives preference to applicants with a demonstrated commitment to Indian health. This commitment may be achieved by clinical rotations in Indian communities. Most importantly, applicants should be strongly considering a career providing care to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
SIHB residents participate in the same rotations as residents in the other affiliated Swedish/Cherry Hill sites. The ambulatory clinic practice of SIHB residents is located at the Leschi Center campus of SIHB. First- and second-year residents also participate in two required months of community practice rotations at IHS or tribal facilities outside of Seattle.
The SIHB is an AAAHC-accredited state-of-the-art community health center with on-site pharmacy, laboratory, Women, Infants, Children (WIC) and other nutrition services, dental services, behavioral health programs in mental health and chemical dependency, and community health and case-management services. The SIHB also operates the Thunderbird Treatment Center, a 96-bed residential chemical-dependency program.
The SIHB sees more than 10,000 patients with more than 22,000 primary-care visits annually. More than 200 American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are represented in the service population. About two-thirds of our clients are American Indian and/or Alaska Native, and 25 percent are under the age of 19. The remainder reflects a broad ethnic and age distribution of non-natives in the immediate community.
A separate NRMP Match number 1755120C5 must be used when ranking the SIHB site. And applicants should mark the SIHB track designation when applying to the Swedish/Cherry Hill Program through ERAS.
Seattle and the Pacific Northwest