First cohort of medical students start school in Grande Prairie

For the first time, the University of Alberta is sending first year medical students to Grande Prairie to finish their education. Marek Tkach reports.

Grande Prairie’s Northwestern Polytechnic campus welcomed its first cohort of 30 students in the Northern Alberta Medical Program (NAMP) for orientation Monday.

Born and bred in Grande Prairie, Megan Hopkins said when the opportunity came to go to medical school in her home community, she was very excited.

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“Most people don’t realize that Grande Prairie is not some small town – we’re a hub for the north for health care,” said Hopkins. “My biggest hope for the program is to be able to show others why the north is so great and why rural is awesome, and also to get to learn so much from different mentors, my classmates, physicians and other allied health members.

“We’re in a very privileged position to get to learn from so many incredible people to ultimately become physicians in the end.”

The first-year medical student said it’s important to be able to bring more physicians to the underserved area while the province endures a doctor shortage.

NAMP, which is part of the University of Alberta medical program, aims to improve access to health care by growing the number of physicians in rural, remote and underserved communities.

There are 192 students in NAMP with 162 in Edmonton and 30 in Grande Prairie.

Richard Martin, the assistant dean of NAMP in Grande Prairie, said the difference in the program is all about location.

“There’s a lot of things you can learn from any doctor anywhere, but the things you learn in some places are different, and the geography will change what that learner sees the doctors and nurses and other health practitioners do,” said Martin. “The farther you get from a central place like Edmonton, the greater the breadth of learning, the greater the breadth of care provision that the doctors and nurses need to provide to those patients.”

Ainsley Miller with the City of Grande Prairie said having the program is a huge deal for the community.

“We’re so excited to host them in Grande Prairie,” Miller told CTV News Edmonton. “We have lots of really excited community members that want to be involved as ambassadors to help them integrate and find their way.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach