Psychiatry residency program to benefit rural communities

Montana's first psychiatry residency program will launch at Billings Clinic, bringing trained psychiatric medical professionals to rural eastern Montana, The Associated Press reported Sept. 15. Operational costs for the program will be paid for in part by the Helmsley Charitable Trust, which is funding the program's first three years at Billings Clinic with a $3 million grant. The Helmsley Charitable Trust's Rural Healthcare Program is based in South Dakota and focuses on creating and supporting programs that build a strong professional medical workforce in the seven states of the upper Midwest, including Montana. Montana, which has the highest suicide rate in the nation, is one of three states that has no psychiatry residency program. The others are Alaska and Wyoming. Montana has seven psychiatrists for every 100,000 residents. “This is a transformational effort that will bring much‐needed mental health resources to our region while training the next generation of highly‐skilled psychiatrists,” Billings Clinic CEO Randall Gibb, M.D., said in a statement. Billings Clinic's program will be a regional track of the University of Washington Psychiatry Residency Training Program.