When it comes to graduating from the Northern Medical Program, few paths have been as circuitous as the one Rae Kamstra has taken.
Before embarking on her studies seven years ago, Kamstra was a personal trainer, teaching women's kickboxing, running boot camps and helping people work out at the gym, with thoughts of becoming a doctor parked well back in her mind.
"I just played all the time and it was a very enjoyable career," she said Friday a few hours before receiving her ceremonial shingle and long coat.
The turning point began when someone close to her became unwell. Kamstra was left with two major impressions over the course of caring for that person.
"One was a lot of exposure to some great physicians here in town and I would say all of them had a positive impact on our family to various degrees," she said.
"And the second thing was I became acutely aware of some of the resource that were needed in the north that were lacking."
Over time, taking care of that person became overwhelming for Kamstra and her family and they reluctantly agreed to let someone else take over. When that happened, "I just had this hole in my life, it was kind of undefined."
She went through a spell of introspection and out of that she felt the calling. But by that time she was into her late 30s, married, the mother of three children and she lacked the undergraduate degree she would need to get accepted into the program.
It was not enough to hold Kamstra back.
She credited much of her success to the support she received from her husband, Bruce Kamstra, who runs Hart Judo Academy, and the rest of her family.
"I went to my husband, spoke to him about it and to my surprise, he said 'go for it,'" Kamstra said.
She started from scratch, completing a three-year biochemistry degree at the University of Northern British Columbia then going into the four-year Northern Medical Program.
Kamstra called the experience "wonderful and difficult at the same time."
The toughest part was third year when the students rotate through all of the departments at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. At certain points, notably during the rotation through obstetrics and gynecology, she would work 80-100 hours a week.
"My family barely saw me for the whole third year," Kamstra said.
Now 44 years old, Kamstra will begin a two-year family practice residency under the guidance of Dr. Richard Raymond in Prince George.
"I'm very excited," Kamstra said.
That she got a residency in Prince George was not necessarily guaranteed because they're assigned on a nationwide basis.
"You make your applications and then there is an interview process and then in the end an algorithm somewhere spits out results and you find out where you're going to be," Kamstra said, although she added that historically an NMP graduate who wants to stay in Prince George will end usually end up doing so.
As for advice to others considering a similar mid-life career change, "I would say go for it," Kamstra said.
"I think it's almost the norm now that people make a career change at some point in their lives, it's not unheard of," she said. "I think what holds us back is current circumstances or fear of what other people might say if we try to make a change and I just don't think those things are as important as we give them credit for."
The other piece of advice is don't look back.
"Once you're on that train, you just don't get off," Kamstra said. "You just have to keep focussed on the task at hand because it can be overwhelming."
However, Kamstra also stressed that if not for the Northern Medical Program, she would not be where she is today.
"I would never have left my family for four years to go to medical school and we would never have moved our family for me to make the attempt," she said.
