Source: Northern Ontario Medical Journal | 2018/03/20 Written by: Nadine Robinson 

“Tânte kekî iši-wîcihitân anohc?” is something Kevin Brousseau is getting used to repeating. Translated from Moose Cree to English, it means “How may I help you today?”

Kevin Brousseau is a medical student at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) in his third year, who speaks Cree, English, and French. His love for language runs deep as he also holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics from the Université du Québec à Montreal. He also maintains a blog on the Cree language online.

“All three languages have been helpful in clinical encounters thus far,” said Brousseau. “I definitely plan on using the Cree language in my future practice because I want to practice family medicine in a Cree community.”

Hailing from Waswanipi in northern Quebec, Brousseau credits his studies in Linguistics for the opportunity to get to know many elders who speak only Cree. Through their stories, he learned key virtues and values that have helped prepare him for medicine. “These elders lived out on the land fending for themselves and their families, sometimes for decades before their modern communities were even built. I am constantly in awe of their stories and have come to appreciate how they epitomize the virtues of kindness, humility, perseverance, hard work, and faith. These values, I try to embody.”

Brousseau always had a career of medicine on his mind, but didn’t take the proper courses to prepare him for the traditional route to medical school. He was influenced to study medicine by Dr. Darlene Kitty and Dr. Elaine Innes, two Cree doctors from the James Bay region. “I admire them not only for their work in our communities, but for leading the way for the next generation. Their encouragement and advice went a long way towards calming my nerves and preparing me for the road ahead in medical school.”

He began applying to medical school in earnest and chose NOSM in 2015.

“The road to medical school definitely required a sustained effort, hard work, and dedication…but things that are worthwhile in life often do,” said Brousseau. “I can honestly vouch for the timeless wisdom of taking things one day at a time now as well… I was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year, but thanks to my family, friends, community, NOSM staff, and an amazing neurosurgeon, I managed to stay in the program and even catch up to the rest of my classmates.”

When asked what he’d say to the next generation of Indigenous youth, Brousseau said: “Believe in your own potential for success. Yes, the odds are often stacked against you. But those who hold fast to their dreams often notice that the universe has its ways of making things work in their favour.”

Kevin Brousseau’s list of ten things that have helped lead him to where he is today:

1. Stay away from drugs and alcohol
2. Read, read, read, and read some more
3. Always have a goal – if you reach your goal, make a new one!
4. Always offer to help
5. Put effort into anything you do – any task worth doing is worth doing well!
6. Choose your friends wisely
7. Always stay humble
8. Never be afraid to ask for advice
9. Never forget where you come from
10. Basic money management skills go a long way – learn how to budget and save!

Source: Northern Ontario Medical Journal | 2017/07/26 Written by: Norm Tollinsky 

“I feel a gravitation to small towns because of what you can do with family medicine in a rural environment,” said Francois, who grew up in Terrace Bay and Marathon. “You can work in the Emergency Department, find a niche and gear your practice to that. Plus, when you are working with a team of physicians in a small town, you really work together as a team to support each other.”

Working as a registered nurse with physicians at the Marathon Family Health Team turned out to be a life-changing experience for Francois Doiron.

“It was really inspiring to see an amazing team of physicians providing such excellent care with limited resources,” he confided. “Marathon is a prime example of rural medicine at its best. You have very close relationships with your patients and can have such a positive impact on their lives. That was the main reason I decided to go into medicine.”

Francois was accepted by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in 2013 and was based at the school’s Thunder Bay campus. He graduated in June 2017 and matched to NOSM’s two-year family medicine residency program in Thunder Bay.

Following completion of his residency, he hopes to practise medicine in a small town somewhere in Northern Ontario.

“I feel a gravitation to small towns because of what you can do with family medicine in a rural environment,” said Francois, who grew up in Terrace Bay and Marathon. “You can work in the Emergency Department, find a niche and gear your practice to that. Plus, when you are working with a team of physicians in a small town, you really work together as a team to support each other.”

During his four years of med school, Francois and his partner operated a small hobby farm in Kaministiquia, 40 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, raising chickens and turkeys. A passion for poultry and the availability of farmland will, therefore, factor into an ultimate decision on where in Northern Ontario they will end up.

A member of the Métis Nation, Francois was particularly touched by a one-month Aboriginal placement with the Eagle Lake First Nation near Dryden.

“It was a really amazing experience,” he said. “I grew up in Terrace Bay and Marathon – not on a reserve, so I didn’t have a connection with my Indigenous roots. Members of the community were so welcoming even though they didn’t know me at all. I was treated like family. Having that experience made me feel closer to my culture.”

NOSM’s distributed model of medical education also took him to Hearst, where he was based for his eight-month clerkship in third year, as well as to Marathon, Dryden and Mindemoya during his first two years of med school.

Aside from hitting the books and plucking turkeys, Francois enjoys cross-country skiing and hiking in Northern Ontario’s great outdoors.

Source: Northern Ontario Medical Journal | 2016/06/10 Written by: Norm Tollinsky 

A member of the Pic River First Nation, Zoe is proud of her Aboriginal heritage and looks forward to giving back to her community.

Becoming a doctor was most likely the furthest thing from her mind as Zoe Michano-Furlotte daydreamed during the two or more hours she spent commuting from Caramat to high school in Geraldton every day.

Doubting she was cut out for university, Zoe enrolled in a fitness and health promotion program at Fanshawe College in London, but moved back to Northern Ontario “because (she) missed (her) family so much.”

With a little more confidence, she went on to earn a nursing degree at Lakehead University, worked for a year at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and was accepted at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in September 2012.

A member of the Pic River First Nation, Zoe is proud of her Aboriginal heritage and looks forward to giving back to her community.

She had several experiences in Aboriginal communities through her four years in med school, beginning in first year with what was supposed to be a four-week placement in Attawapiskat that was cut short when spring flooding forced an evacuation of the community. Later that year, she also spent a week in Summer Beaver, a remote fly-in community north of Sioux Lookout.

She spent one month in Geraldton and one month in Gore Bay in second year, followed by a one-month elective in Sioux Lookout focused on Emergency Medicine and a prenatal tapering program for women with opiate addictions.

“My eight-month clerkship in Kenora during third year was a really great experience,” she said. “The family docs there do so much. I can’t say enough about them.”

Zoe matched to NOSM’s Thunder Bay family medicine residency program, which is perfect for her given her deep roots in the region and her interest in Aboriginal medicine. As a bonus, she gets to visit often with both of her grandmothers, as well as a sister who live in Thunder Bay.

She also likes to keep active lifting weights, hiking, jogging, playing baseball in summer and hockey in winter.