Medical students to tour La Ronge as part of Roadmap Program

Mar 31, 2023 | 5:07 PM

Approximately 22 medical students and family medicine residents will travel to La Ronge on Saturday as part of the Saskatchewan Medical Association’s (SMA) Roadmap Program.

According to a media release issued Friday, the SMA Roadmap Program is designed to showcase rural and regional centres in Saskatchewan with the goal of increasing the number of locally trained physicians working in smaller communities.

The SMA, in conjunction with local health officials, organizes one-day tours for students and family medicine residents. Medical learners tour the host community, take in some of the attractions, and spend time with physicians and community members learning about work and life in the town or city.

“The SMA is committed to sustaining health care in rural Saskatchewan and supporting regional and rural physicians,” said SMA president Dr. John Gjevre.

“Rural family medicine is foundational for health care in the province. The Roadmap Program enables medical students to see that first-hand as they visit facilities and learn about rural and regional health care from local physicians.”

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Dr. Sean Groves, chair of the SMA’s Committee on Rural and Regional Practice (CORRP), which supports the Roadmap Program, noted the program is needed due to shortages of family physicians in rural Saskatchewan, and with fewer medical students choosing to work in family medicine.

“There is a crisis in family medicine. The solutions are multi-faceted and complex, but the Roadmap Program is one tool CORRP can support that aims to make a difference in rural health care,” said Groves, a family physician in La Ronge.

“The Roadmap Program acquaints medical students to the diversity of care that rural physicians provide their patients. I know from experience the challenges are many, but so too are the rewards. Hopefully medical students come away from the experience contemplating a career in rural family medicine.”

While in La Ronge, students will have a chance to ask questions of local physicians, tour health facilities and the community, and socialize.

–

derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno

by Derek Cornet

Medical students to tour La Ronge as part of Roadmap Program

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