As outlined in the January 26 edition of the Times, the critical problem of having adequate medical practitioners for the Rainy River District has again raised its head. This is a chronic problem made even more desperate by the Covid 19 Pandemic and extreme burnout threatening medical staff across the province. As explained in that piece the situation is extreme in remote areas like ours where recruiting and maintaining medical staff is even more difficult. One of the solutions is training more local practitioners. NOSM will graduate about 60 doctors this spring between its Sudbury and Thunder Bay campuses. It takes time and money but here is the story of one local Northern Ontario School of Medicine student that demonstrates the potential of encouraging and training our children.
In her yearbook as an 8 year old Skylar Arpin stated she wanted to be a doctor so she could help people. A couple of decades later that dream is being realized with her graduation from NOSM anticipated this spring. It’s a long road and not over yet.
As an active sports enthusiast in Rainy River High School Skylar became a “first responder” trained by Emergency Medical Staff to help fellow students with first aid and other emergencies like sport related injuries. Her decision to follow a medical career was motivated beyond her childhood dreams by her firsthand experience of the lack of access to full medical assistance in rural communities.
Post RRHS Skylar enrolled in a 4 year Kinesiology Degree at Lakehead University and on graduating entered the NOSM Family Medicine program at the Thunder Bay Campus in 2018. Over the next 4 years as a student she did real world training in Healthcare Facilities including Emo, Atikokan, Fort Frances, Dryden, a Tribal Health Centre, and just recently two weeks in Rainy River.
Skylar is the daughter of local families, Bev and Guy Arpin, and the granddaughter of Dorothy and Eltjo Wiersema and the late Sophie and Larry Arpin.
The best memories of her journey have been realizing as she “practiced” medicine the knowledge she was gaining and the ability to make accurate diagnosis from her interactions with patients.
The gratitude you feel from someone you have helped is very rewarding, says Skylar.
The worst: Having to deliver bad news particularly if it is for the first time on something like a serious cancer diagnosis.
“I am hoping for a Residency with NOSM in Family Medicine in the Rural stream, which includes the communities of Fort Frances, Dryden, Kenora, and Sioux Lookout, or the Thunder Bay stream” said Skylar explaining NOSM approved residencies would be approved generally in April. Longer term specializing in emergency room medicine and obstetrics interests are further goals.
Dr. Joe Ennett of the Rainy River Clinic who supervised Skylar’s placement here was enthusiastic with his praise. Skylar is an exceptional student clinician with the makings of a great Doctor. In Ennett’s opinion. Securing funding for staffing in the Rainy River setting and being able to make use of a residency doctor to take the strain off providing 24 hour emergency service would be a most positive healthcare service improvement, he added.
With graduation from NOSM set for June, training for soon to be Dr. Arpin does not stop.
Skylar is the daughter of local families, Bev and Guy Arpin, and the granddaughter of Dorothy and Eltjo Wiersema and the late Sophie and Larry Arpin.
