Expanding Our Reach

Artistic rendering of the ongoing renovation.

Memorial Family Residency Program and the adjoining Beacon Medical Group E. Blair Warner are nearly doubling their size in 2015 with a $4.5 million expansion that will feature 10 new exam rooms, additional patient-care areas, larger teaching rooms and radiology services. E. Blair Warner will see its patient volume jump from a projected 22,000 patient visits this year to an estimated 33,600 in 2020.

It’s the largest expansion for the Family Medicine Residency since the program moved to the E. Blair Warner, located in a two-story building at 714 North Michigan St., South Bend, in 1994. Demolition on two, unused existing buildings, has begun. The 13,500-square-foot addition will match the exterior design of the existing facility. Much of the existing E. Blair Warner, located on the first floor, will be renovated to improve patient flow and access. Part of the second floor will be revamped to better accommodate the needs of the residency program.

“We have run out of space to meet the growing needs of our residency program and the health needs of our community,” says Dale Patterson, M.D., Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program Director. “By expanding, we are improving upon our care capabilities and providing much-needed space and doctors to serve our patients and our community.”

The E. Blair Warner was designed to be the home of the Family Medicine Residency and has served the program well for 20 years. During the three-year program, residents receive a high-quality education by learning on the job. The residents provide medical care to their primary care practice which includes children, pregnant women, the elderly, athletes and more.

Together, both the residency program and the clinic have added staff and grown considerably over the last 20 years, leading to overcrowding both upstairs and downstairs. Eight residents a year has grown to nine, with plans to expand to 10. Three fellowship programs have been added in recent years, including Obstetrics, Sports Medicine and Health Services Management.

The E. Blair Warner is a Patient Centered Medical Home, a cutting-edge facility in which care is provided in the right place, at the right time and in the way that best meets a patient’s needs, including wellness, prevention, acute care and chronic care.

“The services that our residency program offers are very substantial,” says interim Memorial Hospital President Steve Huffman. “Dr. Patterson and his team have built a program that attracts some of the brightest medical school graduates, and many times those graduates, post residency, stay within the region.”

Inside the Numbers:

• Building expanding from 16,500 square feet to 29,500
• Project completion slated for December 2015
• $4.5 million expansion and renovation
• Family Medicine Residency Program started in 1971
• E. Blair Warner opened in 1994
• More than 300 residency graduates
• 149 graduates practicing in Indiana
• 40 percent of family medicine physicians at Memorial Hospital are graduates
• 47 percent of family medicine physicians at Beacon Medical Group are graduates
• 11 of 14 faculty are Family Medicine Residency Program graduates

Memorial Family Residency Program Staff

• Dale Patterson, M.D., Director
• Thomas Sutula, M.D., Senior Associate Director
• Anton Crepinsek, M.D., Associate Director
• Janel Charlton, M.D., Associate Director
• Joyce Dunfee, Ph.D., Director, Behavioral Science
• Kenneth Elek, M.D., Faculty
• Kelvin Hsu, M.D., Academic Hospitalist
• Tina Jennings, M.D., Associate Director
• Marion Mahone, M.D., Academic Hospitalist
• Linda Mansfield, M.D., Associate Director
• Gerald Morris, M.D., Faculty
• Matthew Reed, M.D., Academic Hospitalist
• Robert Riley, M.D., Associate Director
• Emily-Rae Singh, M.D., Associate Director
• Randall Sutor, M.D., Associate Director