Methodist Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program Celebrates Generous Donors

In 2024, Covenant Health Methodist Medical Center opened a first-of-its-kind Family Medicine Residency Program and Clinic in Oak Ridge, to help meet the growing primary care needs in Anderson County and beyond. In conjunction with the beginning of this important program, Methodist Medical Center Foundation and Covenant Health Office of Philanthropy offered generous individuals and organizations in our community the opportunity to partner with the hospital in bringing this important health care resource to fruition.

To date, more than $260,000 has been contributed to support the residency program and clinic. The funds are part of an endowment that will provide support for the residency program in perpetuity. The goal is to grow the endowment to $400,000.

A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Donors

The generous donors who have supported the endowment to date were recognized at a reception at the residency program facility and clinic in late May. Covenant Health and Methodist are extremely grateful for the commitment to improving healthcare in our region exemplified by these individuals and organizations:

• Jim & Priscilla Campbell (in honor of Dr. Barry Bingham and Misty Cottrell, MSN, FNP-C)
• Dr. James & Marcedes Schindler (in honor of Drs. Melvin, Robert and Keith Schindler, and Katie Prins)
• Ralph Aurin (in memory of Belinda Aurin)
• The Jeremy Biggs Family
• Wilma Brantley (in memory of Dr. Richard Brantley)
• CNS/Y12
• ORAU
• UCOR
• UT-Batelle
• Diane Willis (in memory of her mother, Juanita Fogle, a long-time nurse with Methodist)

Donors and their families present at the reception were personally thanked by Jeremy Biggs, CAO of Covenant Health Methodist; Chip Bryant, Covenant Health Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Officer; and Jim VanderSteeg, Covenant Health President and CEO. In addition, Dr. James Schindler, Director of the Family Residency Program, and two current residents, Dr. Yen Quach and Dr. Rusul Alani, shared their thanks and comments about the impact of this educational program on the future of medical practice in the region.

Partnerships for a Thriving Medical Legacy

“Like so many things in our world, we have people at Covenant Health who see a problem, a challenge, and come up with a game plan for how to solve it. Leadership at Methodist and Covenant saw an emergent need that would impact the delivery of healthcare services in East Tennessee with the retirement of many family physicians and a shortage of new family medicine doctors. Generous donors have partnered with us to help address that need, and we are very grateful,” said Chip Bryant. “We look forward to growing that partnership with additional contributions from this community and beyond in the future.”

To learn more about the Family Medicine Residency Program, please visit https://www.covenanthealth.com/methodist-family-residency-program/.

To learn more about how you can partner with Methodist Medical Center Foundation and the Covenant Health Office of Philanthropy, please visit https://www.covenanthealth.com/philanthropy-giving/.