Perry Named Inaugural The Springs Living Regional Chair of Geriatric Medical Education
September 22, 2023
PORTLAND, OR — The Springs Living has made a gift to Providence Foundations of Oregon to establish The Springs Living Regional Chair of Geriatric Medical Education. The holder of The Springs Living Chair will partner with Providence’s four medical residency programs in Oregon to train medical residents early in their career about how to best care for older adults.
Providence Medical Group’s 90 clinics serve more than 88,000 older patients each year. As the Oregon population ages, lives longer, and faces increasingly complex health care needs, improved strategies are required to better care for these older adults.
“Our investment in this program supporting geriatric medical education is a natural extension of what we do in our senior living communities each and every day — innovating ways to support older adults’ health and wellbeing,” said Fee Stubblefield, founder and CEO of The Springs Living. “Contributing to Providence’s geriatric educational program will help broaden the clinical understanding of the unique needs of the population we both serve.”
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Laura Perry, M.D., has been named The Springs Living Chair. Dr. Perry comes to Providence Oregon from the Center for Elders’ Independence in Oakland, California, and she also previously served as assistant professor at UCSF Medical Center.
In her new role, Dr. Perry oversees and coordinates geriatric education of the residency programs at Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Providence Milwaukie Medical Center, and Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. She will develop and standardize the geriatric curriculum for residents who are completing their internal medicine or family medicine training programs within Providence Oregon.
“I am honored to serve as The Springs Living Chair. All clinicians should understand the complexities of older adult medical care, and I am grateful to be able to do my part in advancing that understanding,” said Dr. Perry. “In this position, I hope to make a broad impact upon the lives of older Oregonians by training the next generation of doctors to better care for their older patients.”
Providence Senior Health — an interprofessional team with extensive geriatric expertise — recognized the need to provide more robust geriatric training to new providers who have completed medical school and are completing a three-year medical residency. With the gift from The Springs Living, Providence Senior Health recently created this new role to provide high-quality, consistent geriatric training to all Providence medical residents.
“We deeply appreciate The Springs Living’s generous gift and its commitment to creating opportunities to train providers in geriatric medicine,” says Kelly Buechler, chief philanthropy officer at Providence Oregon. “This innovative approach will help Providence elevate care for seniors in the community we serve, improving the quality of life and outcomes for older patients.”
Founded in 1996 and based in McMinnville, Oregon, The Springs Living currently owns and operates 19 senior living communities offering independent living, assisted living, and memory care services in Oregon and Montana. When it opens in 2024, The Springs at The Waterfront will be its first community in Washington.