With the help of white physician's coats and plaques made of blue-stained pine, a record-setting 29 graduates from the Northern Medical Program (NMP) were showcased and applauded during a celebration at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) on Saturday.
Students spend the first semester at University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver and then move to UNBC for the remainder of their four-year education with an emphasis on rural medicine. It's only the beginning, Dr. David Snadden, UNBC's vice provost for medicine, advised.
"All that school will just allow you to do is to start that journey to becoming a really good doctor, so don't think you're finished," he told the group, drawing a laugh from the student and about 100 onlookers.
Many of them will go onto programs elsewhere to complete their schooling but six have chosen to remain in Prince George and start residencies in family medicine: Chelsea Anchikoski, Justin Frey, Cameron Grose, Laurie McCoy, Ella Monro and Sara Nimmo.
UNBC president George Iwama praised them all for their hard work.
"As you go forward, I would like to celebrate your success, I would like to acknowledge that the skill set you've gained is a unique, singularly special skill set," Iwama said. "We can have skills that range far and wide but to understand the physiology, the conditions of health as well as disease and the ability to help people is unique."
Each of the students was presented with a physician's white coat, emblematic of the profession, and a plaque made of blue-stained pine, emblematic of the region where they received much of their training.
The winners of two awards were also announced. Hayley Merkeley, who could not make the ceremony because of family commitments, was chosen to receive the Dr. Joe Sidorov Award of Excellence in Internal Medicine. Honourable mentions for the award went to Andrew Birse, Amanda Miller and Floyd Besserer.
Grose was presented with the first-ever Dr. Tony Eckersley Memorial Award which goes to the student who best exemplifies the qualities Eckersley, a well-known Prince George family doctor who died two years ago, embodied.
"That's those of practicing in a northern and rural community, passion for family medicine and someone who has potential to show leadership in our profession," Snadden said.
Grose, 40, once owned and operated Olympia Sports, a successful bike and ski shop in Prince George. The idea of taking the leap into medicine was first planted when he attended the June 2000 rally that sparked the NMP, when some 7,000 people packed CN Centre to protest their lack of access to physicians and health care.
His family physician, Dr. Barry Hagen, who continues to practise, was the other inspiration.
"He is a really good example of what I would like to be when I enter family practice," Grose said.
Married and with a young daughter, Grose said he would not have succeeded without the support of his wife, Cleo Lajzerowicz.
"What she went through to allow me to be here, just as all the other spouses and partners did, it was a tremendous sacrifice that she went through," Grose said.
The couple, who hail from Winnipeg, chose to move to Prince George after driving around B.C. in search of a community where they wanted to live. "And Prince George came out leaps and bounds ahead of all the other communities," Grose said.
Although they may not have much in common, Grose said running a bike store and becoming a doctor both take a lot of hard work and both need support from the community.
"You don't succeed as an independent, it's a group effort," Grose said. "There's a lot of helping people and solving problems and I actually found a lot of similarities between them."
The students will also attend a formal convocation at UBC later this month.
