Affinia Healthcare is now fully accredited for its new family medicine residency program. That means medical school graduates can soon provide care at a clinic that primarily serves those who are uninsured or have other barriers to receiving health care.
Affinia Family Medicine Residency will be based at the provider’s Ferguson clinic in north St. Louis County, where Dr. Kenneth Hemba, the program director, said about 75% of low-income residents do not have a primary care provider.
Hemba said graduates of the program are more likely to remain in underserved areas and provide care such as substance use disorder treatment or behavioral health treatment.
“They’re much more likely to mirror the needs of the community and to make sure that they’re really serving the community where they trained,” Hemba said.
Affinia receives its funding from grants, including from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. He said recent changes in federal grant funding have impacted the overall financial stability of Affinia, which raises concerns about the future stability of the residency program.
“It is absolutely a concern, it is something that I pay attention to almost every day in my day-to-day function as the program director,” Hemba said.
He said he hopes to rely on some of the program’s other revenue streams to remain financially stable.
Affinia received full accreditation for the program from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education last week and is starting the recruitment process. Four residents will be selected to start in summer 2026.
Residents will be trained on the full scope of primary care, including delivering babies, caring for children and adults and providing geriatric care, Hemba said. They will be working in the Ferguson clinic as well as in the surrounding community at partner hospitals including Christian Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“One of our main goals is really training through service,” Hemba said. “This idea that we are out in the areas where care is needed.”
