President’s Lecture Series – Health Equity: Improving Care for Indigenous Children
NOSM University hosted its fifth annual President’s Lecture Series on February 4, 2025. A student-led initiative, this year’s theme, Health Equity: Improving Care for Indigenous Children, emphasized the importance of amplifying Indigenous experiences and perspectives, while highlighting the persistent work of community members. It was an honour to have NOSM University’s Chancellor, Dr. Cindy Blackstock, as keynote speaker, sharing insights from her prolific career, and reflecting on 20 years since the tragic passing of Jordan River Anderson. Jordan’s story ignited a decades-long effort to uphold the rights of Indigenous childr...
> Read MoreCommunity recruiters connect with first year medical students
Debbie Inman has been a Human Resources Manager for the NorWest Community Health Centres for the past 34 years. Recruiting for the communities of Longlac, Thunder Bay, Armstrong and Kakabeka, Debbie says it has become harder to recruit physicians to rural towns. Longlac, with a population of 1,316 people, requires one full-time physician and one nurse practitioner. They have been without a physician since June 2024, when their physician of 10 years moved to a larger urban centre. While Longlac has locum physician support, it is insufficient to cover all the health care needs of the town. To encourage medical stud...
> Read MoreEmpowering Health Equity
As many of you may know, rural and remote medicine holds a special place in my heart. During my eight years as a family physician in Moose Factory and Kashechewan, I saw firsthand how communities along the James Bay Coast interacted with health care, and the profound human impact of economic and social barriers in some of the most isolated parts of Northern Ontario. I had the great honour of providing care to many families who made Kashechewan and Moose Factory First Nation their home. It is difficult to watch the same families, who wholeheartedly welcomed me into their communities, endure longstanding systemic issues, like chronic ...
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