Canada’s first ever National Rural Health Week took place from Oct. 21 to 25 in recognition of the need for better access to health care in rural communities.
This recognition week acts as a call to action while also supporting innovative solutions for rural health challenges.
In Teulon, the medical clinic has seen success through its forward-thinking method.
“Over the years, we changed health care in Teulon from a physician-focused model to a multidisciplinary team-focused model. It’s through teaching and students that we’ve actually been able to achieve that,” said Dr. Mike Loudon, medical director of Teulon Medical Clinic.
“There’s learning occurring for all of us — patients, providers, our staff, myself. We have auxiliary staff and clinic backup as well. The whole team all works well together, and that’s what we like. It makes the day fun.”
The clinic continues to welcome students who are pursuing studies in health-care fields, and many of them end up returning to the community to launch their careers. Loudon outlined the benefits of working with students in the health-care realm.
“It benefits everybody involved. My primary benefit is that I have to stay on top of my game if I’m teaching. I’ve got to make sure I’m teaching the current best practices,” he said.
“Also, students bring new ideas. I’ve been doing this for a long time and very often I’m learning new things from students, so it’s a two-way relationship.”
Currently, Loudon is working with physician assistant student Nilusha Wijewardana, who is on an eight-week rotation for family medicine. Prior to that, another physician assistant student learned at the Teulon clinic for a four-week clinical rotation.
“From a community point of view, they’ve gotten used to having students in the office. The patients appreciate seeing students and value the care provided by more than one provider in a single visit — very often patients deal with two or three of us,” he said.
“We also know that engenders healthy conversation about what we’re doing with a patient so it’s not a one-sided opinion as to how we treat. There’s a lot of discussion that helps with how we determine the treatment plan or ongoing management plan for any one patient. A lot of what we do is chronic care and sometimes we have to change direction.”
The approach seems to be working, since many former students who trained at Teulon Medical Clinic are now long-standing staff members, including Dr. Ashton Hurley, physician assistant Ashley Wicklund and nurse practitioners Aravind Pampackal and Adrian Sawatzky.
“Our students have come back to us and have become part of our team. We’re really fortunate about the committed providers that we have in Teulon,” he said.
“We’ve grown and I think it’s because of the supportive appreciation we have for learning that we’ve been able to do that. Everybody in the clinic does get involved in teaching.”
Community members also get involved by welcoming students, and some even provide accommodations for them. Loudon and the Teulon community also provide a memorable experience for students who visit during the annual Rural Week event.
“It’s worked well,” Loudon said, “and there’s a lot of traction in the community for supporting students.”
Loudon encourages other practicing medical practitioners to invest time in teaching upcoming generations.
“I honestly believe that every provider should teach. Everybody complains about time, but somebody took the time to teach us. You don’t need to have a student with you all the time, but I do believe that we should all be engaged in teaching,” he said.
“It is a way to give back. Students learn different things from different people in different ways. The more we share, the better we are.”
