SYLACAUGA, Ala. – Three medical students from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine began their two-year clinical training assignments at Coosa Valley Medical Center on Monday, Aug. 3, continuing a partnership that has helped train future physicians in central Alabama for more than a decade.
The students – Vivian Asbury of New Jersey, who plans to pursue family medicine; Michael Dever of Pennsylvania, who is interested in emergency medicine; and Nicole Svirsky of Washington, who is focusing on general surgery – will complete their third- and fourth-year clinical education at the Sylacauga hospital.
The Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine has placed students at Coosa Valley Medical Center since 2013 through a statewide training network that grew from the Alabama Medical Education Consortium. Incorporated in 2004, AMEC was created to increase the number of physicians serving rural and underserved communities across Alabama. The program established community-based teaching sites for medical students, many of which later became clinical training locations for ACOM.
Since the partnership began, 65 Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine students have completed clinical rotations at Coosa Valley Medical Center.
“It has been a very, very special thing for us,” said Coosa Valley Medical Center urologist and Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine Sylacauga core site director Dr. Mamoun Pacha. “We’ve made unbelievable progress over the years.”
Dever said he chose Coosa Valley Medical Center because of Pacha’s enthusiasm and dedication to patient care and medical education.
“Because this is a family atmosphere and it’s smaller, there’s a lot more one-on-one time,” Dever said. “There’s a lot more opportunity to work with all of the physicians.”
He added that he is looking forward to engaging with local residents and becoming part of the community.
“Here at [Coosa Valley Medical Center], we work together as a family,” Pacha said. “Sometimes they teach me, sometimes I teach them, and sometimes we learn from each other.”
