Santa Cruz County already faces a growing physician shortage and a lack of diverse providers, writes Dr. Salla Hennessy, who supervises the primary care training of both resident physicians and medical students at Santa Cruz Community Health. Now, federal policy changes threaten the sort of medical training pathways she oversees. She argues that culturally competent care depends on these local physician training programs, and cuts to funding and student loans risk shrinking the pipeline even more. She calls on local leaders to push for investment in medical education pathways before all of our access to care worsens.
