In the not so distant future, patients at Butler Memorial Hospital and those vising their doctors at Independence Health System’s Primary Care — Butler Family Medicine on Woody Drive will have the opportunity to not only support education by allowing medical students to sit in on their care, but potentially help provide the area with future physicians.

An article on Page 1 of the Sunday, Nov. 3, edition of the Butler Eagle announced that the long-awaited accreditation has been received for the Butler Family Medicine Residency program.

In the new program, medical students would perform their residencies at the Woody Drive family practice office, Butler Memorial Hospital in various departments and at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh.

The program received the accreditation after three years of preparation.

Those who visit the hospital or the Butler Family Medicine office should reply with a hearty “of course!” if a doctor or other health care worker asks if it’s OK to allow a resident doctor to participate in their examination or treatment, as participating in education on any level always is the right thing to do.

While patients may not be teachers, principals, guidance counselors, deans or provosts — or in any other way participate in public, private, parochial or post-high school education — they now will be able to do their part just by going to the doctor or having a procedure performed at the hospital.

Dr. Michael Fiorina, chief medical officer at Butler Memorial Hospital, said in the article that about 68% of family practice physicians on staff at the hospital are over 60 years old and will likely retire in the next five years.

That means Butler County will see a huge need for family doctors in the coming years, and some of the residents in the newly accredited program could decide to settle here and hang out a shingle.

The Butler Eagle hopes patients will embrace the residency program and the prospective doctors who accompany existing physicians into examination and treatment rooms at those facilities.

It’ll be a real shot in the arm for education and the community, too.

— PG