Deerfield is indeed fortunate to have joined forces with MAHEC (Mountain Area Health and Education Center) to provide Deerfield residents with on-site physician care through MAHEC’s Family Medicine Geriatric Fellowship Program. Through the newly-instituted program, residents have access to a team of providers, including a nurse practitioner, two fellows and two physicians. The Deerfield clinic is staffed five mornings a week, Monday through Friday with expanded hours on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. In addition, there is a Coumadin Clinic three days per week to monitor anti-coagulation therapy with a Dr. of Pharmacol Therapy.
MAHEC is a member of the North Carolina AHEC system, one of the oldest and most extensive AHEC systems in the country. MAHEC has joined with community partners in Western North Carolina such as Deerfield to provide a range of quality training settings for Fellows of their Geriatric Medicine Program.
As a highly desirable area for retirement, Western North Carolina has attracted a population that is aging much more rapidly than the rest of the state or nation. With this growing population, and a highly developed health care infrastructure, Asheville and the surrounding area is an ideal location for Geriatric clinical training and for future practice. The fellowship is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee (RRC), and accepts board certified or board eligible family physicians or internists for this one year fellowship. Successful completion of the program leads to eligibility to sit for the geriatric medicine added qualifications examination (CAQ) of the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Misty Morrison, LPN, MAHEC coordinator at Deerfield and Kim Morris, Medical Director of the MAHEC Clinic at Deerfield as well as Director of the Deerfield Health & Wellness Committee review patient files.
