Dear Prospective Residents,

After a long journey to this point in your medical education, it’s now time to begin the search for a residency
program. Your personal statement, CV, Dean’s letter, letters of recommendation, and experiences will help
residency programs get to know your personal story – your journey and motivations. We also recognize that there
is more to you than can be conveyed on paper, and that is what is most important to us in the interview. Likewise,
you will also get to learn about the personalities of the programs that you interview with. Fit goes both ways.

Every residency program has its own history and culture; ours revolves around a dedication to our community,
innovative thinking, teamwork, and care for our patients and for each other. Our hospital has humble beginnings.
In 1891 a small group of Grand Rapids women identified a need for medical care for disadvantaged citizens. They
created a fundraising campaign to fund a single free bed in the local hospital, asking for a donation from everyone
named Mary, or anyone who knew a Mary. That bed became known as the “Mary Free Bed.” Over time, the
community’s need grew, and so did our efforts, growing into our current rehabilitation network. To this day, our
hospital is led by the Mary Free Bed Guild, a direct extension of those trailblazing women more than 125 years ago.

Our hospital offers robust inpatient and outpatient training including intensive medical, pediatric, cancer,
musculoskeletal, and neurologic (ranging from brain injury to stroke to spinal cord injury) rehabilitation. Residents
enjoy outpatient electrodiagnostic, musculoskeletal, neurologic, and pain rehabilitation rotations. When it comes
to inpatient and outpatient programs, Mary Free Bed has more than 100, and our residents are a part of it all.
When it comes to PM&R residency programs, we believe that Mary Free Bed checks all the boxes.

We have leaders at Mary Free Bed that are dedicated to empowering residents to follow their unique passions and
encourage them to build a career around their unique skills. We are a part of a hospital system that lives and
breathes rehabilitation medicine. We continue on the mission of sharing that knowledge and culture with the next
generation of physiatrists, who will go on to do great things both locally and nationally.

As you weigh your future options, we hope that you will strongly consider joining the Mary Free Bed family. We
seek candidates who are passionate about patient care, who are motivated and intellectually curious, and most
importantly seek to make each day better for their patients, themselves, their colleagues, and their friends &
family.

If there are any questions that you have throughout the process, please contact our residency program
coordinator, Sarah Thompson at PMR.Residency@maryfreebed.com.

Our best wishes for a successful search!

Callie Rizik, D.O.
Chief Resident

Kyle Sproull, M.D.
Chief Resident