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‘All in:’ meet Dr. Akila Whiley, family doc who charted her own map and made Red Lake home

“It was minus-40 and it was January,” recalls Dr. Akila Whiley, recounting her arrival in the small community of Red Lake, some 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay. “It was a dark night,” she remembers. “I had no clue where I was. The person who cleans the runway drove me home… I didn’t have my luggage.”

“It was just crazy!”

Dr. Whiley was born and raised in Halifax. Following an undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, she went back to Halifax to attend Dalhousie’s medical school. She then earned a spot at the University of Toronto and was working through a family medicine residency. She says that because her experience to that point had been in large urban settings, the emphasis seemed to be on specializations—anything but rural generalism and family medicine.

“That really wasn’t what I wanted,” she says about weighing her options for the final year of her residency. “And so I truthfully mapped out all of the places I could go… and I picked the furthest place on the map.”

That place was Red Lake, and in the early days of her residency there, Dr. Whiley says, “it took a lot of bravery. It was really scary.” But she must have put on a courageous face, because she made a very good impression. On her final day, a local doctor asked her to come back to Red Lake to practise.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” she recalls. “I got on the flight and I left. And then I had just a really sinking feeling that I’d never come back. And so that was my sign.”

“I wrote him back a week later and said, you know… I’m gonna be all in.”

Four months later, Dr. Whiley was back on a plane to Red Lake.

“You just do it,” she says of establishing her practice. “I think you know in the moment. I knew that going to Red Lake was what I wanted, but in hindsight, you have to be brave.”

 

Dr. Whiley recalls in her first year in the community, despite perhaps experiencing a little bit of “imposter syndrome,” she knew she had the training to be a good rural generalist and family physician. She also knew she wasn’t alone. “In communities like ours, I always felt like there was somebody there that would help me if I needed it.”

And need help she would. In her first three weeks of practise, Red Lake’s hospital had to be completely evacuated due to encroaching forest fires.

There’s a number of things you can prepare for,” Dr. Whiley says of that surreal experience. “And then there are those that require the courage to step up to, with the leadership skills, commitment to community, and trusted resources you have as a clinician.”

Every single patient was evacuated safely, and Dr. Whiley now reflects on how that frightening event galvanized the community even more.

“It was just this remarkable group effort. There’s so many people I see and I’m reminded of our sense of connection because we went through that experience together.”

She says people in Red Lake have been so supportive and appreciative of her efforts in the community.

“I just feel so welcomed, and I feel really validated in the work that I do,” she says.

“You know, there’s just something so special about serving in a community that is small and unique and tight. It’s difficult to describe the feeling. You really do care for people at all stages in their life. I have found so much fulfillment.”

This NOSM University Campfire Chat was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Weaver Simmons.

Mentorship and community support inspires rural generalist practice for NOSM alumnus

Dr. Adam Moir (MD 2009, Family Medicine 2011) says one of the things that has helped him as a rural generalist is finding mentors. “If I have one skill, it’s recognizing people that I admire and identifying them as a mentor. I reach out to physicians from different fields of medicine with different skill sets than me and I try to emulate their passion for clinical work or teaching.”

He recalls how, in his early days of medical school at NOSM, he made connections with mentors that he still values to this day. Some of his earliest placements included the north shore communities of Terrace Bay and Marathon. “I spent the entire third year of medical school in Huntsville and had some exceptional support from clinical teachers.”

“I think good clinicians want to be mentors, so they enjoy when people reach out,” he shares.

“When we think about practising rural medicine, we tend to think that we’re isolated and that we don’t have a clinical network or clinical community. But the fact is, you’ve got a network that’s much broader. Those mentors and connections from across Northern Ontario really sustain you when you’re working in a rural setting.”

Dr. Moir is quick to point out that it’s not just the physicians that create a support network for him.

When you work in a small town like Dryden, Dr. Moir says the whole community picks you up. Sometimes people will bring him blueberries, cookies or homemade pickles. Other times, they will clean his driveway before he gets the chance. “People show me that they appreciate me as a physician every single day. It’s always nice to feel appreciated. Small communities do that by leaps and bounds. All that appreciation really nourishes my soul.”

He emphasized that he learned to schedule time for self-care and family, and still remains passionate about his practice in a way that continues to sustain his career. He notes that health human resources challenges have been longstanding in Northern Ontario, and many communities have been in and out of crisis for a long time. Dr. Moir encourages learners to accept that reality and not be deterred, but also not make too many self-sacrifices because he says, “staying healthy and well enables you to have a longer, more fulfilling career.”

Dr. Moir hopes that many more medical students have similar experiences to his. By learning in communities, he believes students gain a wide network among preceptors, find mentors and support with one another, all of which he says is important for practise as a rural generalist.

“NOSM University learners bring incredible energy, make a valuable impact while learning in communities across the region,” Dr. Moir says.

“Medical students inspire me! They are a jolt of energy—they are passionate about learning, hungry for experience and very appreciative. That enthusiasm inspires and energizes me, making me a better physician.”

 

This NOSM University Campfire Chat was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Weaver Simmons.

Celebrating the Centre for Social Accountability

“Welcome to the inaugural celebration of the Centre for Social Accountability!” An enthusiastic and heartfelt welcome from the Centre’s director, Dr. Erin Cameron, began a landmark event that included stories of success so far, and a promising future yet to come.

NOSM University’s Centre for Social Accountability (CFSA) was officially celebrated on Friday, June 24, 2022 with an event jointly hosted online and in-person in both Thunder Bay and Sudbury. In addition to sharing success stories and highlighting important partnerships and collaborations, the event included comments from Dr. Sarita Verma, NOSM University President; Dr. David Marsh, Associate Dean, Research, Innovation and International Relations; Dr. Alex Anawati, CFSA Clinical Lead; Dr. Joseph LeBlanc, Associate Dean, Equity and Inclusion; and, Dr. Natalie Aubin, Vice President Social Accountability at Health Sciences North (HSN).

After words of welcome and introduction from the Centre’s director, the event included an introduction by artist, educator, and Odawa Knowledge Keeper Randy Msheekehn Trudeau. In his encouragement to begin in a good way, Randy likened the inauguration of the Centre to welcoming a child into the world and celebrating the early stages of its life. Following Randy’s opening comments and his request to “the Creator to walk with us when we walk together,” Dr. Verma offered her encouragement of the Centre’s vision.

Describing the Centre’s first year as an amazing journey, and praising “this inaugural event of the first multidisciplinary, but really interdisciplinary, research centre,” Dr. Verma provided a brief look into the history of the Centre and exclaimed that “this is the only centre of its kind!” Her remarks concluded with a call to continue the Centre’s work, suggesting that we have the opportunity to step into a gap through service to the community and advocacy.

Dr. Marsh then shared his enthusiasm for the Centre’s connection with research and its key focus on the obligations that health-care providers have to the communities they serve. He called those involved in the Centre to continue demonstrating the impact of socially accountable medicine and emphasized that social justice is at the heart of the empowering work of the Centre.

The Centre’s Clinical Lead for Policy, Leadership, and Advocacy, Dr. Anawati, then shared how—after working toward this goal for over ten years—the CFSA’s work has become the architecture for understanding his work as an ER physician. His question for the attendees was: what does social accountability mean to you? As participants wrote their responses on sticky notes, Dr. Anawati described how social accountability should be a force for “positive disruption” in health care and health education.

Dr. Aubin shared further about how the work of social accountability hits the ground amidst the ongoing opioid crisis, and a touching video and guest appearance of a former patient of the Addiction Medicine Unit at HSN brought these insights into focus. A key part of the story shared in the video was the recognition that the patient felt when a nurse who worked with addictions thanked her for her story. This patient testimonial showed in a powerful way how socially accountable care has the potential to save lives.

Following Dr. Aubin’s presentation, Dr. LeBlanc shared how the Centre for Social Accountability’s work resonates deeply with the University’s Equity Strategy, especially in its development of a network of researchers who can respond to requests from the community. Dr. LeBlanc lamented the lack of health data in Northern Ontario and noted that “politics is the number one determinant of health”— an idea that animates much of what social accountability is all about.

Concluding remarks from Dr. Erin Cameron included a call to applaud the team because “social accountability is a team sport,” and Mr. Trudeau’s closing remarks provided a challenging and thought-provoking meditation on the ways that his people have practiced unique forms of social accountability for centuries through love of “the earth, the Creator, and the people who are here.”

The Centre for Social Accountability at NOSM University is doing exciting work in research, community engagement, and social justice. Please consider getting involved by becoming a Friend of Centre (receiving information and invitations) or an Affiliate of the Centre (individuals, organizations, academics, and community members). If you have ideas you would like to discuss, or a project you need assistance with, consider booking a discovery meeting.

Web: nosm.ca/cfsa

Email: cfsa@nosm.ca

Twitter: @nosm_cfsa

NOSM University