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Michael Traub of Ho’o Lokahi clinic in Kailua Kona, HI, also praises the NERC model, saying the residency program improves the services his clinic can offer the community:

Having a resident helps …increase patient care services through the resident’s private practice hours and clinical skill set; provide coverage for my patients when I am out of town; provide assistance for clinical research projects conducted at the clinic; give educational lectures to the public; and volunteer at a variety of health fairs and events, including senior health fairs, free skin cancer screenings, and the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.

Without NERC’s role as facilitator, doctors and students must organize residencies or mentorship opportunities on their own, and the clinic or practitioner must come up with funding for the resident’s salary. And if the residency is to be official, the clinic must have staff on hand to interact with one of the CNME-approved residency programs. All this strains the limits of what small practices can often accomplish. By joining the consortium, partner clinics benefit from NERC’s network of funders and practitioners, relationships with sponsors, and administrative contacts with residency oversight bodies.

At its core, NERC provides member clinics with direct funding for residencies. This support is possible thanks to NERC’s relationships with companies whose natural products NERC clinics dispense. “Sponsors fund our community-based residencies. Without them, we would not have NERC,” says Beeson. To this end, NERC seeks out corporate partners that share NERC’s commitment to advance the practice and promise of naturopathic medicine. Sponsors are companies with whom member clinics already have relationships, not unknown companies that approach NERC looking for a distribution outlet.

Beeson points out that many supplement companies “are founded and run by NDs who value the concept of residencies and furthering the profession.” Such professionals bring proven commitment to the “profession and to the principles of naturopathic medicine.” By approaching companies whose products are already in use in NERC clinics, or whose products or services are of interest to the NERC clinic network, the consortium creates a powerful microeconomy in which effective products can be discounted and clinical capabilities can be improved and enhanced by bringing residents into the clinic and community.

Looking ahead, NERC’s ambition is to help make residencies possible for all naturopathic graduates.
Looking ahead, NERC’s ambition is to help make residencies possible for all naturopathic graduates. Asked about the future, Hudson offers NERC’s vision statement: A healthcare system where naturopathic physicians are optimally educated and prepared for clinical practice; patients are able to become healthier by working with highly skilled clinicians; naturopathic physicians are able to contribute the full scope of their training to all communities, age groups, and socioeconomic classes; and naturopathic physicians have many more job opportunities.

Beeson looks to her and Hudson’s own experiences to postulate about NERC’s potential. “I studied with Dr. Bastyr, and Dr. Hudson studied with Dr. Turska. Through the NERC residency program, we have the opportunity to pass the core principles of the naturopathic art on to the next generation of physicians, and that’s very exciting.”