The Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-06-10, Page 4Page A4 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Medical students discover rural healthcare
signal -star staff
The Alexandra Marine and Gen-
eral Hospital (AMGH) has been
given a clean bill of health for an-
other year, according to its most
recent surge of eager first-year
medical students visiting during
Discovery Week.
Four University of Western On-
tario Schulich School of Medicine
students spent four days and five
nights in the shadow of some of
the communities brightest health-
care -professionals, and gleamed a
wealth of information from them in
respect to both rural medicine and
rural living. *
"I think Goderich is an unusual
example of rural practice because
the medicine covers a lot of bases,"
Guelph native Gillian Hewson said
during a small break from taking
patient histories.
According to Hewson and her
peers, all of -whom are familiar with
rural areas, the site visit in Goderich
helped to dispel some of the myths
that still surround the rural approach
to healthcare.
"For me, I think I had a certain
amount of bias toward what I was
expecting before I came here," she
said.
Hewson added she envisioned a
boring' atmosphere, both in medi-
cine and lifestyle.
"But what I've learned is that it's
not— The pros that I've experienced
outweigh that potential con because
of the variety of the work, and a
lifestyle that's very conducive to
having a family. I hadn't seriously
considered coming into a small
town until now. It was the whole
idea that it would be too small to
be exciting, but this experience has
Photo by Dominique Milburn
Vsiting UWO medical students Marty Bezaire, Gillian Hewson, Kasia Rycerz and Hamid Mithoowani spent
most of last week shadowing Goderich healthcare providers as part of the Discovery Week program.
changed my mind on that." gery as well as stints in the Maitland tors and medical students across
During their visit, Kasia Rycerz Valley Medical Clinic. It was this the province, so recruitment isn't
of London, -Hamid Mithoowani of variety that peeked many of their a problem just for rural hospitals,"
Strathroy, Marty Bezaire of Port El- interests ' as well ' as impressed the Bezaire said. "Family practice has
gin along with Hewson, shadowed group. the shortest residency period, but
AMGH physician and nursing staff "I was surprised at the •abili- even so, I don't think it was seen as
throughout their daily routines. The ties available in a small town hos- an attractive option in the past."
hands-on approach did a lot more pital like Goderich, Bezaire said. The group agreed that there is a
than introduce them to rural health- "Port Elgin is roughly the same shift in how students are seeing the
care, the group said, it also reener- size, and there is almost none of reality of family practice. Though
gized their commitment to study. that stuff available. The fact that Bezaire admitted that money was
"It was a lot easier to get out of there is an ICU here is remarkable, a considerable concern in the past,
bed in the morning for this vs. the I didn't think it was possible in a government funding • initiatives
classroom," Hewson joked. small town." have helped alleviate that inconsis-
Rycerz added, "you can get ex- With so many glowing report tency when compared to a special -
cited about this. We're seeing that cards from visiting medical stu- ized medicine.
we're really going to be doing these dents in Goderich each year, it's "Through programs like this, we
things we practice in the classroom easy to assume AMGH should be can get an accurate view of what
and we're witnessing them happen at full family physician staffwith rural family doctors can do and
in the ER." more waiting in the wings. But the what it entails," said Mithoowani.
The group spent individual time problem is in the numbers, accord- "Some think of family practice as
within all of AMGHs departments, ing the the 2009 group. 'There just just coughs and colds."
including obstetrics, psychia- aren't enough to go around. "And that there's not the prestige
try, emergency, intensive care, sur- "There is a shortage of doc- of being a family doctor as there is
•
4 l i
been continuously in
insdtutiorts g to t�. Now, ....,
o ittive added* o c�
� Bruce in on t action, not 10
MM jet •on i. U
niver-
84 And � C
"We're bused to have fully integrat-
ed Bruce C into our board of directors,"
,"
said• ' LIIL �` Chair John' Smallwood. '"This is
redly exciting in that the hasn't been much
lam` inKincardine for a long ,time;
now we're able to introduce courses from
Western, and this is a major breakthrough for
us
The annual General Meeting (AGM) of the
LHLC took place June 2 and was attended
by members from Huron and Bruce Counties
unified in their. vision of bringing additional
educational opportunities to the region.
New to ULC, Kraemer became a mein
ber of the Owl of Directors earlier this year,
attached to a specialty like a cardi-
ologist, for example," Bezaire add-
ed, "but where you practice is what
makes the difference."
"In the city, for instance, family
physicians do a lot more referrals,"
Hewson explained.
"The sense is when you come
across something interesting, you
refer it to a specialist," Rycerz con-
tinued. "But family doctors here [in
Goderich] are in the ER, obsteric —
they're everything."
"I think that's starting to level out,
though, for family physicians in
particular. Now half of the class at
Western is going into family prac-
tice," Rycerz added. ,
So does this mean we may see a
return to Goderich for these medi-
cal students in the future? Maybe in
another six to ten years. The group
said, "we'll just have to wait and
see."
"Going into medical school it was
always my intention to return to a
small town," said Bezaire. "I think
Goderich in particular has made it
even more attractive."
147 first year medical students
from the Schulich School of Medi-
cine and Dentistry at The Univer-
sity of Western Ontario fanned out
across southwestern Ontario to
experience first-hand all that rural/
regional medicine has to offer. Dis-
covery Week 2009 ran from June 1
to June 5 in 33 communities.
Discovery Week is intended to
inspire medical students to prac-
tice in rural, small and mid-sized
communities within southwestern
Ontario upon completion of their
medical training, and to provide
students with an understanding of
rural/regional medicine.
lcomes Bruce County learners
uary in Kincardine• from $500. to $1,0(10, Smallwood said that
S i Ht ru()w vc a mod UWO to consider hawecii � E �I�I tJ
not be a stumbling block. °WC?
witch l- , C a second -half wintersession in has made a commitment to distance learners,
was already in oplational in Bruce 140' ei ich that would give the half-credit
!!u�a y the LC. firm • thatpp mare students will brit
$me flt assistance and
bursa-
'',"We,We a lot of challenges (with
ries thaton-campus
�'��) we do with the LH�, so it made ' ' students enjoy. Also back
this year is the 'V
sense to t to ,fulfill the needs of Al with tl WC) S has been it � rodent
allour a�bes �' he �pa�ble�for Grade 1 1 12 students enter-
In the last threeyears, the LHLC has en- ingtheir final year ctf`higl� school to complete
g a full university course with no tuition cost
before they graduatesecondary school.
"UWO has been extremely germs with
bursaries and scholarships for .,Him st4u-
dents, Smallwood said. "What we offer re .
ally is within mach of anyone, and the uni-
versities are working hard to ensure that's the
case."
Along with ongoing hobby photography
courses, the LHLC is also working on a semi-
nar series on aging that will feature a number
of guest specialists covering topics ranging
from nutrition to auto ownership. These semi-
nars are yet to be confirmed, but if all goes
well, they will kick off in the fall.
For more information 'on the LHLC or its
writing students something else to
take in the winter months," Smallwood' said.
"They're considering it as we speak"
in contact with
Laambton College about the
possibility of establishing a course in alter-
nate energy in Kincardine..Smiallwood said
the pitch has been enthusiastically received in
the Brune County community that is the hub
of largewind and nuclear energy. producers.
Brock University has also begun to establish
additional courses in Kincardine.
"What college initiative in the north, I would
say, is the really exciting news this year,"
Smallwood said. "We've now got something
for prospective college students with courses
starting in September ih Kincardine."
But, Smallwood admits that their message
is still getting muffled. In the past, inaccurate
portrayals of the LHLC's being useful to only
a certain income level in,the media have dam-
aged their ability to reach out.to prospective, current curriculum, log on to the web site at
students. -" www.lakehumnleaming.ca, or call 519 -524 -
Although courses have ranged in price 4154.
cratedabout 140 full and half credits within
Huron Catty. Whaes remarkable, said
Smallwood, is that this is all happening in an
area that generated no university credits just
three years ago.
One student has completed half .her un-
dergrad.degtee in the three years, and several
others have completed first year studies," he
said. This opponunity has changed the edu-
cational outlook for many in the town."
In the coming school year, the LHLC
will offer one full credit and two half -credit
courses to Goderich area learners. A full
credit English course, Introduction to Litera-
.ture and Culture, begins this September in
Goderich, while a half -credit Introduction
to Expository Writing course is available
in September in Goderich, and begins in