All proceeds from this year’s Making A Difference gala will support GLFHC’s Lawrence Family Medicine Residency (LFMR) program.

Since 1993, when GLFHC became the first community health center in the country to sponsor an accredited three-year residency, LFMR has led the way in delivering superb medical education while providing high quality and efficient care to our patients. The Residency attracts culturally competent physicians from across the United States and around the world, and adds valuable and affordable medical resources to residents of Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley.

However, support for primary care physician training is reaching a critical stage. As fewer medical students are choosing primary care, health care reform is driving increased demands for it. At the same time, government funding for residency programs like ours has been eliminated or reduced. It is estimated that in the future at least 45 percent of the physician workforce should be providing primary care in order to ensure lower costs and improved clinical outcomes. The LFMR program can help meet this future need by graduating exceptional, well-trained family physicians.