Jesse Boily
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Town & Country News
School is back in session, and a first-of-its-kind class has begun in Grande Prairie, training future physicians in the north.
The Northern Alberta Medical Program (NAMP) celebrated the first day of classes on Tuesday with its first cohort of 30 students.
“I don’t know if you realize how historic this is actually going to be; this is going to transform medicine in northern Alberta,” said Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Primary and Preventive Health Services, at a ceremony before students began classes.
She said it’s the beginning of a new era of medical education and healthcare in northern Alberta.
Students will complete their first two years of the MD program at Northwestern Polytechnic’s (NWP) Health Education Centre (HEC) in the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (GPRH).
After the first two years, students will have clerkship placements across northern Alberta and in northern communities in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Students will earn their MD through the University of Alberta and participate in the same training as medical students in Edmonton.
“It is an innovative approach to medical education that will help address rural physician shortages, and is one of many ways we are implementing solutions to physician shortages,” said LaGrange.
Grande Prairie resident Megan Hopkins is part of the first cohort of NAMP students.
Hopkins, a pharmacist, seized the opportunity to study in her hometown, aiming to be “more hands-on” in helping her community.
“Rural is where I’m most comfortable; as a pharmacist, I practiced in both the city and rurally, so being able to practice in that setting is definitely a big deal for me.”
Twenty of the 30 students come from a rural background with the remainder from an urban centre such as Calgary or Edmonton, said NAMP Assistant Dean Richard Martin.
“One thing I’ve learned along the way is that you don’t need to actually come from a rural space to feel like this is the work that’s meaningful for you.”
Martin said he grew up in Edmonton and completed his medical schooling there. While doing his residency it was suggested he try two weeks in Whitecourt.
He ended up working in Whitecourt after his schooling and then eventually moved to Grande Prairie to begin practicing.
An advantage of training physicians locally is that they will gain a deeper understanding of what it means to work in a rural setting, interacting with patients, families and the community.
He said that during the first two years of training, students will learn in a small group and lecture format, with some contact with patients and clinical work.
While in the third and fourth year, students will be learning “directly by helping take care of patients and families, working with physicians and nurses and paramedicine across the landscape of where they are.”
He said in those final two years, the students will be found anywhere a physician can be found, including hospitals, clinics, ambulances and long-term care facilities. The hope is that by recruiting and training locally, NAMP will retain physicians in the region.
“We definitely want that to happen, and it is because students who learn in rural communities are more likely to stay and work in rural areas after completing their training,” said LaGrange. She said the province recognizes “there are physician shortages in rural and remote communities” and it’s taking action with programs like NAMP. In April last year, the province invested over $224 million into physician training at NWP and the University of Lethbridge. In the same month, U of A and NWP signed a memorandum of understanding, formally uniting the institutions to bring physician training to Grande Prairie.
Minister of Advanced Education Myles McDougall said the program’s success is due to the collaboration between the U of A and NWP. Although the halls of the HEC were full of past and current politicians, advocates, and community leaders, Hopkins – on her first day of classes – was excited to show her classmates all that the north has to offer.