CityView Magazine

Local Business Young doctors find a lot to learn at Southern Regional AHEC, a center of community health care By Allison Williams Life of a resident D r. Nicole Shields has been married three years, but she has yet to live in the same city as her husband. But even if they did, it’s not likely the two of them would see much of each other anyway. Such is the life of a medical resident. Dr. Meredith Grey never had this problem – and believe it, she’s had her share. Like the docs on “Grey’s Anatomy,” these real-life physicians fresh out of medical school come to Fayetteville for residency, a three-year stint of learning, hard labor and long hours. Shields just began her first year. Doctors like Heather Brown are in their final year, the end of a long road. “I’ve really grown,” Brown said. “I can Above and right | Carmen Crosby leads a class for social workers at Southern Regional AHEC. SR-AHEC is both a teaching center and thriving family practice. It’s a training center for new doctors and home to seasoned health care professionals and students alike. 52 | Oct • Nov 2008 really do this on my own. People entrust you with so much …. If somebody comes through the door, and they’re falling apart, I know what to do.” She always wanted to be a doctor but shied away from medical school and even worked for three years as a social worker in Florida. Then her grandmother died from a deep vein thrombosis, something that could have easily been treated with medication. Only, doctors were on strike at that moment in her native Jamaica, and she never received the blood thinners she needed. “In that moment, I said even if I never get paid, I want to be a doctor to help people,” Brown said. “I want to be the one doctor that doesn’t go on strike. I applied to medical school, and here I am.” Here they are in Fayetteville, headquarters to the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center, home to some of the brightest young doctors from across the country. When they

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