CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Let's go back in time to October of 2023, when Christus Spohn announced it was ending its Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
The program, which has been around since 2007, is a three-year learning opportunity for residents at the Texas A&M School of Medicine. It allowed them to practice in a hospital emergency department.
Christus Spohn said they didn't have the resources to sustain the program on a long-term basis so they planned to end it in June of 2026. That led to an uproar from the community, Spohn physicians and other medical staff, as well as from city and from county leaders
But on Dec. 1, 2023, a deal was made. The Nueces County Hospital District (NCHD) agreed to pay Christus Spohn $21 million over six years to keep the program going.
Fast forward a year later, Nueces County Commissioner and Connie Scott’s Special Committee member Brent Chesney is raising a big question. What happens when that six year agreement comes to an end? Chesney was seeking answers to avoid putting students, doctors and the community in limbo once again.
“It’s really not 6 years. It’s a six-year contract, but these residency classes are three years. Three years or two years from now we’re right back at the table worrying about the fact that they’re going to cancel the program,” Chesney said.
KRIS 6 News reached out to Christus Spohn regarding Chesney's concern.
In a statement, Christ’s Spohn stated that:
“We are committed to the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Shoreline for 12 years and beyond so that it is sustainable well into the future.”
Chesney said that is a great commitment if they put it in writing.
“Just because someone says they’re committed to twelve years now, like their statement says, until it’s in writing, it’s just someones statement,” he said.
Dr. Craig Pedersen used to be a resident with the program and is now back as faculty.
“When people train here they want to stay. I know because I’m one of them. Several of us either stay here at Shoreline or work at South or Beeville, Alice, Kleberg. This is where a lot of us train, we raise families here and so we see ourselves staying here for the long term,” Petersen said.
Pedersen said when they first heard that their program was in jeopardy, it came as a shock. But he said the series of events brought them together.
“When we were able to reach that agreement, we came out of it on the other side much stronger, more unified and with a renewed sense of purpose,” Pedersen said.
He said Christus Spohn has told faculty and students that there is no expiration date on their commitment to the program, which brought Pedersen a sense of comfort moving forward.
“They want to see our program grow indefinitely and their actions so far have proven that,” he said.
He said Christus has upgraded their simulation labs with new mannequins that help better prepare residents for real-life emergencies to continue providing the coastal bend with quality, indigent care.
But Chesney said more still needs to be done, specifically a new long-term deal.
“They told us they want to stay longer through back channels. We haven’t had a lot of communication with them, we can’t get them to come to a meeting but we are hoping that will happen," Chesney said. "As long as we all have breathe in our bodies we are going to keep pushing to get this done. If Spohn doesn’t want it, there’s other medical providers that do. They will sign a long term deal. We prefer to stay with Spohn because they’ve done it but we really don’t care who does it. If it’s Driscoll, HCA, Methodist Hospital, I don’t care. We just want a long-term deal that says we’re committed to these residents staying.”
Chesney hopes they can move forward with a new written agreement with Spohn so they can move forward with other issues together like how to retain doctors, how to expand funding and more.
“There is so much this committee is so anxious to get involved with and help with. We just need to get over this hurdle and get something in writing” Chesney said.
