Author – PGY-2 Monica Logan
Why I love my neighborhood?
My husband and I grew up in Alaska and went through medical school by way of the University of Washington School of Medicine Alaska WWAMI Program. Since he was a year ahead of me, he applied broadly across the country to general surgery residency so when he matched at Northwestern Memorial, we moved into the Streeterville Neighborhood due to its close proximity to their medical campus. Streeterville is located in the heart of downtown Chicago and is surrounded by Lake Michigan with rivers winding through the streets. The area is incredibly family friendly which was important to us since we have a two year old daughter, and we love the easy access to parks, playgrounds, the beach, and even a Children’s Museum. Everything you need is within a few blocks, from amazing rooftop bars to world famous restaurants, to grocery stores and movie theaters. While living in a big city was a huge shift from what we were used to up North, the transition to Chicago has felt easy and close to home with the access to the water and green spaces. The cityscape even brings a mountainesque feel to the area if you use your imagination!
Access to nature is so important for our wellness, and Streeterville allows direct access to the 7,600 acres of parkland in the Chicago area. We love going on picnics, looking at the birds, and finding butterflies to catch with a bug net!
Ohio Street Beach: Only a ten minute walk from our building, Ohio Street Beach provides lovely access to Lake Michigan. We love going early in the morning when only other families are there so our daughter can have free range to enjoy digging sand castles and playing in the small waves. Compared to the glacial lakes we were used to back home, the water temperature is phenomenal and we could swim for hours!
Urban Hiking: Coming from Alaska, we LOVE to hike. We quickly learned that living downtown allows for plenty of “urban hiking” as we like to call it and have put hundreds of miles on the stoller by way of both the city sidewalks and the Lake Front trails. A few of our favorites include the free Lincoln Park Zoo and the museum campus which includes the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Adler Planetarium – all of which are only two and a half miles from our apartment. Quicker trips include Millenium Park, Grant Park, and the Chicago Art Institute which are only a mile away.
#TheACMCDifference
During medical school, my clinical rotations were located at eight different hospitals including those that were academic, county, community, and critical access. I knew that during residency I was interested in training at a one site program to better focus on the medicine and people I was working with. A close friend of mine highly recommended an away rotation at Advocate Christ, emphasizing the acuity, volume, and how incredible the people were – and during my rotation I quickly saw that ACMC is an incredibly unique program.
The first thing that impressed me was the sheer volume of critically ill patients we would see, and how junior residents would lead resuscitations and the seniors would happily guide the interns through new procedures. Christ has this “in the pit” feel to it that so many of us in EM are attracted to, but with the sophistication of an academic program that prioritizes safety, support, and evidence based care through the 1:1 attending to resident model. A unique aspect of ACMC that really attracted me to the program was the fact that not only do we have a female program director, we have a large number of female attendings and residents – many of which with recent pregnancies or young children. Personally, my daughter was six months old during my away rotation and I never felt any guilt or negative attitude about taking pumping breaks during my shift and they even had a lovely pumping room only a short walk from the ED. As someone who is planning on expanding our family during residency, I have felt nothing but support from leadership and my colleagues which I am forever grateful for.
During the residency interview process, you will likely be told to “listen to your gut” when it comes to finding a program. ACMC felt like home even as a medical student, and I am so happy to say that I still feel that way when I get to come to work and spend my time with some of the most incredible, hard working, and fun people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.
ACMC Emergency Medicine 