SPOKANE, Wash. – Dr. Kim Cunningham-Hartwig is nearing completion of her
first year of residency at Family Medicine-Spokane, the first female doctor
from the Nez Perce Tribe. Her path to this point is intriguing, showing the
desire and determination of a young woman athlete to reach her goal.
Cunningham-Hartwig grew up in Lapwai on the Nez Perce Reservation. While in
the 7th grade she watched her older sister recover from a severe knee
injury and decided then she wanted to eventually become a doctor.
Her dedication to that goal was soon evident. She typed medical technology
words in typing class to expose herself to medicine. She went to several
programs during summers to gain more knowledge, including eight weeks
through the University of Oklahoma the summer before starting college and
another summer at Washington State University after college graduation
because “I knew I wanted to go into medicine.”
Basketball was her love but she was given a scholarship at prestigious
Loyola Marymount University in California worth about $20,000 a year for
her scholastic ability. She played a lot of basketball her freshman and
sophomore years, starting about half the games. Culture shock hit her
junior year. Her words express it best. “My junior year of college was the
most challenging academically so I decided to take that year off from
basketball. I didn’t have my support network that I had from the time I
stepped on campus – my teammates and my coaches. I was just a student. I
was really homesick. That was really challenging.” It became so bad she
even contacted a professor at Washington State University she knew asking
him for papers so she could transfer and be closer to home. The professor
talked her out of transferring.
Looking for support, she went to an elder’s meeting in San Pedro. “I
realized as soon as I got out of the car that I felt an instant warmth and
welcoming and realized it was the support of the Indian community that I
really missed.”
She returned to the basketball team as a senior, graduated, and returned to
the northwest to again be with family and to take classes in preparation
for the Medical College Admissions Test. It was during this period she
became reacquainted with Jack Hartwig, fell in love and was married, all
before starting medical school at the University of Washington.
Medical school graduates must choose a field in which to practice.
Originally her choice had been orthopedic medicine because “I’m an athlete
and I wanted to work with athletes – fix knees and stuff.” As she matured
her views changed because “I realized that family care is where I would
have the most impact, where I could influence the most people,” she said.
As a family doctor there are no limitations as to the types of medical
problems she may see and she has received training in every field. “I’ve
done surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, medicine, ICU. I’ve done everything
you can think of,” she said.
Cunningham-Hartwig wants to go home to practice when her three-year
residency in Spokane is completed. That will be a family decision made with
husband Jack and their three young daughters. It may be a little longer but
she’s determined that’s where she will eventually practice. She said “I
know I want to work with kids. Kids are how change happens. Being involved
in kids’ lives is going to be important.” She continued, saying “to make
changes you need to take a community approach. Preventative medicine is a
huge aspect of my philosophy so that’s going to be really important for me,
to be able approach the whole community and make changes and not just
individual patients. I want to be a true family doctor the way doctors used
to be thought of.”
In speaking to young people she said, “the support we have in our Native
communities is unrecognized a lot. We sometimes don’t realize that as we
struggle in college. That support system is always going to be there for
them.” She concluded by saying “I want students to use athletics as a tool
to get an education … but few people make it professionally. Everyone
should set a realistic goal and use athletics to better themselves by
getting an education. Nobody can take that away from you.”