Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— MORENO VALLEY, CA— Knee-length white coats, a trusted symbol of healing and science, were presented to new resident physicians on Thursday, June 28, as they embarked upon their years-long journey of medical residency training at Riverside University Health System.
Wearing bright white coats, the 30 resident physicians heard from physician leaders who emphasized that the field of medicine is not a trade but a calling, one whose members are held to the highest standards of trust and professionalism.
“You have answered the calling,” Dr. Roger Garrison, associate program director of Graduate Medical Education 125-year-old public teaching hospital in Moreno Valley. “With that white coat comes great responsibility.”
Chief residents from each program offered heartfelt words of advice, urging the new cohorts to lean on one other and take care of one another throughout their journey. Dr. Kellie Morris, chief resident of the Anesthesiology program said no matter what field they had chosen, the newly minted doctors would undoubtedly face death and sickness.
“These experiences may be trying for your soul, but what I challenge each of you to remember is what else you will see—health, happiness, trust and life,” Morris said, sparking laughter by also urging them to “eat when you can, sleep when you can…and pee when you can.”
The new resident physicians are entering five different residency programs at the Moreno Valley-based teaching hospital, which annually sponsors a total of 116 resident physicians in Anesthesiology, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Neurosurgery. The programs vary in duration from three to seven years.
Annually, about 1,000 medical students and physician residents train at RUHS Medical Center through academic and graduate medical education affiliations with the schools of medicine at University of California Riverside, Loma Linda University and Western University.
New Riverside University Health System neurosurgery medical residents are flanked by program directors and, on the far right, Chuck Washington, chairman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
