Who We Are
History
In 1974, Robert W. Brown, MD published a visionary report entitled Physician Manpower in Kansas. This study clearly documented what the people of Kansas intuitively knew--that there was a statewide shortage of family physicians in Kansas and the problem was particularly critical in rural areas.
Acting upon this need, in 1977 the Kansas state legislature passed Senate Bill #472 stating, "It is the policy of the state to promote family medicine residency training programs at locations within the state that do not currently provide such training. It is the purpose of this legislation to encourage such programs through appropriate affiliation agreements through the University of Kansas School of Medicine and qualified medical facilities or non-profit community organizations."
Senate Bill #472 represented the Kansas Legislature's support for a new family medicine residency program in Salina, Kansas. Pertinent to the bill were three concepts: 1) quality educational programs for family medicine residents could be decentralized from the major medical centers in Kansas City and Wichita; 2) partnerships could be developed between the University of Kansas School of Medicine and the Salina medical community to provide family medicine residency training; 3) graduates of a rural residency program would be more likely to establish practice in rural communities upon completion of residency training.
An immense amount of planning, organization, dedication and financial commitment on the part of the hospital and medical staff in Salina, the Kansas State Legislature and the University of Kansas School of Medicine resulted in an innovative new residency program. That program is called the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency at Smoky Hill in Salina, Kansas-better known as Smoky Hill. Of the three established fully accredited family medicine residency programs in Kansas, only Smoky Hill is located in a non-metropolitan area.
The program opened her doors in 1979 and graduated its first residents in 1982. Until 1990, Smoky Hill was one of the few "1-2" residency programs in the nation (The first year of training was primarily hospital-based in Wichita, Kansas with the second and third years in Salina.). In 1989 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education approved moving the first year of training to Salina. Since that time, Smoky Hill has continued to produce class after class of highly dedicated and competent family physicians, most of whom serve the good people of rural Kansas.
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