When Dr. Jack Reed first arrived at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in June 1976, there wasn’t much time for dreaming. In his first few years of working there, he said, the hospital was facing a staffing shortage.
“In the ‘70s, there was little dreaming and a lot less sleep because we didn’t have enough doctors to work day and night, and we had no emergency medicine doctors,” Reed said.
Reed worked at Baptist-Golden Triangle for 45 years, until he retired in 2021.
But Wednesday afternoon, Reed saw a few of his dreams realized, as the hospital dedicated and hosted a ribbon cutting for the newly renamed “John E. Reed Jr., MD, FACP Graduate Medical Education Building.”
The building houses Baptist’s internal medicine residency program, a three-year program that trains new doctors to practice medicine in a hospital or clinic setting.
“Baptist Golden Triangle was the very first internal medicine resident program within our system, and for that, we’re very grateful,” Baptist-Golden Triangle Administrator and CEO Rob Coleman said. “This building will continue to serve as a space for our future medical doctors (and) osteopathic medicine doctors that will one day go out into this community, this organization and other communities to serve.”
Baptist Golden Triangle Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Martin said Reed was one of the original drivers of the program’s creation, which is why the building was renamed after him.
“Dr. Reed was passionate about bringing a program like this to Columbus for many years,” Martin said. “He worked on it, talked to a lot of people about it, convinced them that this was a need. And then finally, in 2015, he convinced them to do a feasibility study, and that study was done, and it did indeed show that an internal medicine program was needed for our area.”
By 2016, Martin said, Baptist-Golden Triangle received approval from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to start the program, accepting six internal medicine residents each year.
The residency program accepted its first class in 2017, with its first graduation in 2020. Since then, Martin said, the program has graduated 20 doctors, with seven more slated to graduate in two weeks.
Dr. Christina Collins, program director, said each participant comes to the program already having made it through medical school, but the residency provides in-patient hospital medicine and outpatient training.
“We have certain conditions we have to teach them how to manage,” Collins said. “They learn how to manage hypertension and diabetes and heart disease. They learn to do different procedures based on patient needs.”
Collins said participants receive training that is standard across the country, but if a physician is interested in going into a particular field once they leave the program, the small class allows Collins to adjust rotations, giving the still-learning physicians flexibility.
“We’re really proud of where it’s come,” Collins said. “Starting a program is a challenge, and the community has been very welcoming and supportive. And we are turning out some very good doctors.”
Martin said the residency program helps fight the problem Reed faced many years ago, as it brings young doctors to the region, and sometimes, convinces them to stay.
“Physician shortage is a real problem across the U.S.,” Martin said. “What better way to address the shortage than to train your own and have them stay in your area?”
Out of the 27 doctors that have passed through the program, Martin said, 13 have stayed in Mississippi. Five of those have stayed at Baptist-Golden Triangle.
“This program has made a huge impact on people all over Mississippi,” Martin said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
