First year medical students joined clinical settings in Sarnia and Petrolia this week.
The group, from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University, has been learning and training with Bluewater Health as part of Discovery Week.
Chief of Staff Dr. Mike Haddad said the placements expose the students to teamwork and collaboration within non-urban settings.
"Discovery Week offers students a valuable introduction to local clinical practices and the collaborative environment that define medical practice in Sarnia-Lambton," said Haddad. "Experiencing care in our community helps future physicians envision the many opportunities to build a rewarding and impactful career here."
Haddad said the response is generally very positive when students are introduced to this area.
"Many people come here, they've never been here before and they are mostly pleasantly surprised at the resources we have and the city itself and the county. We have a lot of things to offer in terms of outdoor activities, and lakefront, and everything else. They are, a lot of the times, surprised. They might have been coming from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) or places that are not to close to us," Haddad said.
Western students have participated in immersive one-week placements in health care settings across Southwestern Ontario for the past 27 years.
"It's like planting seeds when you farm, you get the crops later on, it doesn't happen right away because you have to wait for them to finish med school or residency," said Haddad. "But, it has been shown in evidence that many people go back to work in places where they trained."
"We also, in 2011, started our family medicine training program in Petrolia where actually many of our physicians in Petrolia and Sarnia graduated from that program and decided to stay here. In September of this year, we're starting to have more of the third year medical students rotating here the whole year in Sarnia. They're going to be moving here and living here in hopes that they would come back and work here as well," he added.
Distributed Education Assistant Dean Victor Ng is grateful for the continued collaboration with partners who welcome their medical students.
"Together, we’re training and inspiring a cohort of physicians who are eager and prepared to practice in small and mid-sized communities across Ontario," said Ng.