Education

The inaugural APC Postgraduate Residency Program is currently underway as of September 2020 under the direction of Patricia Stevenson RPA-C. This program is a 1-year structured experience designed to increase competence and confidence to new nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Our two nurse practitioner residents, Chelsey Patrick and Ruth Whitney, are both from the local area and are fully licensed providers employed by the network. Their clinical home center is Moreau Family Health, where they will see new and established patients for acute and chronic illnesses. In addition, both residents will participate in mentored clinical sessions with Hudson Headwaters providers throughout the network.

Now in its third year, Family Medicine residents from the CVPH Family Medicine Residency have their continuity practices at Champlain Family Health. With the addition of two first-year residents, Champlain Family Health is now the home health center for a total of 6 CVPH residents, representing 1/3 of the 18 CVPH residents. Over the course of their 3-year residency, each of the residents performs more than 1,650 patient encounters, supervised and precepted by Champlain Family Health attending family physicians under the direction of Candice Ciolac, MD. Reviews of the experience by both residents and attendings have been excellent. The current residents are:

• Althea Morrison, MD 3rd Year Resident, University of Vermont
• Marten Peterson, MD 3rd Year Resident, SUNY Upstate Medical University
• Gabriel Crevier-Sorbo, MD 2nd Year Resident, McGill University
• Connor Whitaker, MD 2nd Year Resident, Oakland University
• Adam Lacayo, MD 1st Year Resident, University of Vermont
• Alyssa Sethi, DO 1st Year Resident, Michigan State University

For more than 20 years, under the direction of Dr. Frances Bollinger, Hudson Headwaters has been working with Albany Medical College to educate third-year medical students in outpatient internal medicine. Three students at a time are placed here for a two-week rotation.

In addition, Hudson Headwaters has hosted 4th-year medical students from different medical schools for a 1-month elective rotation in rural medicine.

Four student pharmacists in their 6th year of pharmacy school at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, part of Union University, will be graduating with their Doctor of Pharmacy degree in May 2021. They each will complete a 6-week, advanced practice pharmacy rotation under the supervision of Ryan Armstrong, Pharm.D, Clinical Pharmacist; Kate Shmulsky, Pharm.D, Director Population Health Programs and Quality; and our population health team. The students work with on targeted population health projects including medication therapy management, patient outreach and pharmacy consults, and help to serve as a resource for our Population Health department.

Nursing student rotations are currently through either the SUNY Plattsburgh RN to BSN program or the WSWHE BOCES LPN Program. The RN program is a 40-hour clinical rotation ending in a project based on their experiences. The LPN program pairs students with health center LPNs. Both programs serve as a way for nursing students to get a sense of the work environment.

Student Rotations
Hudson Headwaters has a long history of providing clinical rotations for APC students. Demand for these rotations increased dramatically in the last several years, necessitating a more formal application process that prioritizes employees, their families, and local students. During the calendar year 2019, we placed six students providing about 1,140 hours of precepted clinical time. Click here to apply.

Shadow or Observation Experience
In the current health care environment, we need to balance the value of having local learners get a first-hand clinical experience with the potential exposure to unexpected illness and impactful clinical situations. For this reason, we no longer allow shadow experiences for individuals under 16, and all shadow experiences are currently suspended due to COVID-19.