You Can Go Home Again
Sometimes there’s no place like home to find the job that’s right for you. Four physicians found that returning to their roots provided
career satisfaction for them and service for the communities they love.
Four different physicians, one common objective: practice medicine at home. These doctors chose to practice medicine in the
medically underserved areas they have called home since childhood. Challenging?
Sure. But, as homegrown family practice physicians, these doctors reap unique
professional and personal benefits.
The first white persons to view Washington’s Yakima (YAK-i-maw) Valley were traveling with the Lewis and Clark expedition
in 1806. The area takes its name from the Native Americans of the area, the
Yakama Nation, one of the largest tribal groups of the Pacific Northwest. Today
the city of Yakima has about 82,000 residents, and around 230,000 more
populating the many small, rural towns dotting the Yakima Valley, a large area
of about 4,300 square miles.
Located in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountain Range in south-central
Washington, Yakima has sun 300 days of the year. The Yakima Valley boasts more
than 50 vineyards and wineries and is the primary source of the nation’s hops as well. Ranching and farming are important and honored professions in
Yakima Valley, and the lifeblood of its economy.
Doctors Mindy Udell and Saul Valencia, University of Washington School of
Medicine-Seattle graduates, are third-year family practice residents at Central
Washington Family Medicine, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) located
about three miles west of I-82 in Yakima. Both were raised—and intend to continue practicing—in Yakima Valley.
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“I was born in Yakima and spent summers helping my dad work our small farm on the
Satus Creek, located 40 minutes outside of town,” says Udell, 30, a Lakota Sioux. “I had the best childhood, with plenty of land to run on, muddy ditches to swim
in, and cows and other livestock to chase.” She and her husband, Nick, want the same for their children, Hailey and Kora.
“Except for my brother and sister, who live in Seattle, pretty much my entire
family is here in Yakima Valley. “I love the smaller town,” Udell says. “The medical community in Yakima is so friendly and the patient population so
rewarding. I enjoy knowing most of the practitioners in the medical community,
which I could never experience in a big city. There are professional
development opportunities everywhere, too. It just depends on what you want to
do, and how much you want to be involved.”
Besides medical interests, Udell is active in her church and is a volunteer with
her community’s Junior League. The Udell family also enjoys travel and camping and, on
occasion, does a little wine tasting as well—one of the perks of Yakima Valley living.
“There are things I love about a big city,” she says, “but the secret thing about communities like Yakima is that there is way more to
do than we have time for—you just have to find it. A medical practice in Yakima enables me to balance
work and family. And the commute—12 minutes—is definitely reasonable.”
Saul Valencia, MD—Yakima, Washington
Saul Valencia was born on a little ranch in Michoacán, Mexico, a verdant, mountainous region bordered on the west by the Pacific
Ocean. As a child, he migrated with his family to Gleed, one of Yakima Valley’s small towns. From the age of seven, he worked in the orchards picking apples
over the summer and into fall.
Because Valencia is Latino, he finds his Hispanic-Latino patients more apt to
listen when he counsels them on diabetes and exercise. Having worked in the
orchards himself, Valencia, 36, understands how those injuries happen and what
his patients need to recover. They
trust and respect him.
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As far as Valencia is concerned, he learns more at this FQHC than he would at
larger facilities in Seattle.
“In Seattle, the specialist just comes in [with a resident during a patient’s appointment], stays for a little bit, and leaves. In Yakima, it’s a whole different attitude. They spend time with us, explaining how the
disease functions, how to work it up, how to handle it. This teaches residents
to think on our own; to be on our own. If I ever want to practice in a small
towns with a population of 10,000—and I do—there’s just going to be me.
“Yakima is a big enough town that it has a good hospital and is able to attract
specialists. In an emergent situation, we transport the patient to Seattle,
which is about two hours away, or to Spokane, three hours away.” Even 10 to 15 years from now, Valencia still sees himself living and working in
one of the small towns that dot Yakima Valley.
“One of the things I really like about practicing in a small town is more time
for my family,” says the dad of 4-year-old Saul Renaldo, and infant daughter Xiomara Jocelyn. “Time in traffic is time away from them.
“The clinic here is 10 minutes away from my home, and my home is a couple of
blocks
from the hospital. Often I’ll run home for lunch to spend time with my wife, Norma, and the kids. It’s nice to be home right after clinic is done, to have dinner with the family,
and to spend time with my kids before they go to bed. In Yakima, anywhere I am
I’m close to home.”
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John Molina, MD—Guadalupe, Arizona
Like Udell and Valencia, John Molina practices medicine in a community clinic.
But in Molina’s case, he had to build the clinic first, and he chose to build it in the
impoverished village of Guadalupe, Arizona, a tiny ethnic enclave within the
ever-expanding metropolis of greater Phoenix.
Guadalupe is a small Yaquí Indian and Mexican community of about 5,500 people, located between Phoenix and
Tempe. Named after the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico,
Guadalupe was founded in 1904 when Yaquís fled persecution by Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz. Soon, Mexican families also settled there. Rich cultural and ethnic
identities still characterize the town today. Although culturally wealthy, the
community is economically impoverished, and chronically ill residents are
unable to afford even the most basic health care.
Molina, a 56-year-old Yaquí-Mexican-American, was raised in Guadalupe and still resides there, as do his
parents and several lifelong friends. His connection to the community is deeply
rooted, his respect and reverence for cultural traditions innate, and his
affection for his neighbors unmistakable.
