Submitted by:
Prairie Mountain Health |

In early February 2017, Parkland family medicine residents —including supervising preceptor Dr. Trina Mathison— made the trek to the beautiful Swan River Valley to participate in a “Day within the Forestry Industry.”

Now in its 25th year of operation, the Parkland Family Medicine Residency Unit, located in Dauphin, is a training site for the University of Manitoba, Department of Family Medicine. Its aim is to prepare physicians with knowledge, skills and attitudes for rural family practice.

Chief Resident, Dr. Savanna McKay, organized the successful day and had support from Swan River physicians, Prairie Mountain Health and University of Manitoba. The purpose of the day was to meet educational objectives of the family medicine residents in their principle that “the family physician is a community-based discipline”. This includes having an understanding of local community resources, local health concerns, population, and economy.

The group of family medicine residents had a tour of the Swan Valley Primary Care Centre and the Swan Valley Health Centre. There were also presentations by representatives from the town council and then by local physicians over lunch. In the afternoon, Louisiana Pacific’s forest resource department provided a tour of a logging site.

The family medicine residents learned about sustainable forestry and saw the full spectrum of logging equipment in operation. This provided them with the opportunity to have a better understanding of the resources and economy of the area where they may serve as physicians in the future.

The feedback on this day was overwhelmingly positive and the Residency Unit hopes to continue to nurture this relationship in the future.