Kim Sorrells , administrative director of graduate medical education, Dilpreet Singh, 28 Sitara Kishore, 26, Dr. Nemer Dabage, program director of the internal medicine residency, Wajeeha Saeed Butt, 28, and Idrees Suliman, 30, pose together at Blake Medical Center. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O'HARA

What being a medical resident is really like

Early in July, Blake Medical Center welcomed its first class of 15 resident physicians. These young doctors, who have graduated medical school but not passed their board certification exams, will be training nearly every day in the Bradenton hospital for the next three years, working 80 hours per week and soaking in everything they need to know to be successful and effective doctors.

After reviewing over 150 applications, program director Dr. Nemer Debage and administrative director of graduate medical education Kim Sorrells picked the 15 residents not just for their impressive resumes but also for their leadership skills and desire to be part of the group that creates the culture for the Blake internal medicine residency program.

In addition to helping the hospital care for patients, these young doctors are also growing the young professional population of Bradenton.

Their ages range from 25 to 35 and hospital administrators and community leaders are hoping the residents will like Bradenton enough that they’ll want to stay after their three years of training are over.

After about a month of time in the hospital, their days seem a little less dramatic than the residents at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital on Grey’s Anatomy, but we wanted to know more.

We sat down with four of the new residents as they sound off on Bradenton, Blake Medical Center and their lives outside the hospital.

Dilpreet Singh, 28. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O'HARA

Dilpreet Singh, 28. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O’HARA

Dilpreet Singh, 28

Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

Family: Single

Medical School: American University of the Caribbean, St. Maarten

Why Blake? The biggest thing for me was to be involved in a program from the ground level and help pioneer the culture. When I interviewed here, the leadership was warm and  encouraging, and the community itself has been nothing but accepting of us.

Why Bradenton? I’m from Fresno, which is kind of like a small town in a big city, and with Bradenton, it’s easily accessible to Tampa, Orlando, Miami. It’s nice, you have everything you need in short drive.

Also, people here are so nice. A few nights ago we went to go get some ice cream at Shake Pit and we were so confused with so many options, and this random lady comes up to us and starts telling us all these details, ‘you can get this, with all these options, here’s how you order it’. She was so nice.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since you’ve been here? Really, it’s just been getting settled in, turning on the internet, making sure everything’s set up, getting furniture delivered…with all the stuff at the hospital going on, it’s nice to just have my place set up.

Idrees Suliman, 30. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O'HARA

Idrees Suliman, 30. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O’HARA

Idrees Suliman, 30

Hometown: El Centro, Calif.

Family: Wife and stepdaughter, 12

Medical School: University College, Dublin

Why Blake? In choosing a residency program, you have to look for things the program offers borth professionally and personally. I worked with Dr. Nemer Debage (who is now the program director of the Blake internal medicine residency) at the Cleveland Clinic of Florida for three months.  Dr. Debage takes a personal interest in his patients and really connects with them on human level, which is what I want to learn.  When you see a physician you want to emulate, and I wanted to emulate him, you should spend as much time with them as possible.

Why Bradenton? The Bradenton community seemed like a great place. I’m originally from California and it’s really warm here like it is there. Ireland is beautiful but it’s cold. Bradenton is even like my hometown, it’s kind of small town close to a big city. I like that setup.

I think I’ll have a tough decision to make in three years when I’m done with my residency here and have to decide whether to go back to California or stay here in Florida.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since you’ve been here? I’d never seen an alligator before, so my family and I went to Sarasota Jungle Gardens and it was fantastic. You can feed the gators there and I held a baby gator. It was interesting but I wouldn’t want to do that again outside of Jungle Gardens.

Wajeeha Saeed Butt, 28. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O'HARA

Wajeeha Saeed Butt, 28. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O’HARA

Wajeeha Saeed Butt, 28

Home country: Pakistan, moved to Port St. Lucie about 18 months ago

Family: Married

Medical School: Dow Medical College, Karachi

Why Blake? The reasons I wanted to be here is that it’s a new program and a great opportunity to grow with leadership skills.  I had other interviews in Florida, but I picked Blake for the uniqueness of the program.

I’m grateful and happy to be a part of this. I think I’ve made the best decision of my life to come to Blake, and I love Florida.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since you’ve been here? I went to the UTC mall and that was very nice. I also went to this ice cream parlor, Tyler’s ice cream, and it was amazing, I went there around 7 and it was loaded with people. I’d recommend the Mississippi mud pie ice cream, it was excellent.

Sitara Kishore, 26. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O'HARA

Sitara Kishore, 26. STAFF PHOTO / RACHEL S. O’HARA

Sitara Kishore, 26

Hometown: Dallas, Tx.

Family: Single

Medical School: PSG Institute for Medical Science and Research, Peelamedu, Coimbatore, India

Why Blake? People here are warm like they area in Texas. Also, when I interviewed with Dr. Debage, he told me one of the goals for the residency program would be to focus on the human aspect of medicine, to take that extra step for your patient and provide something beyond just their medical care. That’s something that I was looking for.

Being part of new program too, you’ll work hand in hand to achieve the same goals, and get more interaction with attending physicians than if you had older residents ahead of you. You can ask them about the things you only learn from experience. That interaction will make you a better physician.

Why Bradenton? I really like Bradenton. I don’t really feel like the population is too elderly or slow. I drive a mini cooper and I always see elderly people driving faster than me. I have a lot of fun here and I feel like it’s vacation at the end of the day when I come home and see the water.

I like it here and even though I get lost all the time, there are lots of hidden treasures to find.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since you’ve been here? One of the most memorable days was when my dad came to visit. He hasn’t been to Florida before and when I drove up here to see Bradenton for my interview I drove from Fort Lauderdale, so I didn’t get to see the water. But when I picked up my dad from the Tampa airport, we got to drive over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

I seriously thought I was driving up into heaven at one point, it was so beautiful and we drove all the way to Bradenton and took a drive around the city. We went to Bradenton Beach, drove up Longboat Key and stopped at St. Armand’s Circle. We were walking around and my dad picked Daquiri Deck for dinner.

I think I had something called “Deck Diesel”, it was kind of clear and it was really good. We also tried the chicken wings- we tried the “are you crazy” level spiciness and my entire face was burning.  But I’m Indian, I can handle it. It was a lot of fun.

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