A new partnership between Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and area hospitals will bring more family medicine to Lambton and Oxford counties. Beginning in July 2027, medical centres including Bluewater Health and Woodstock Hospital will each welcome two new medical residents. It will be the first time graduates have served in those communities, according to Scott McKay, the chair of family Medicine at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. “They will complete most of their entire residency in these communities. Previously, residents would have had an opportunity to do, you know, maybe one or two months in these communities, sometimes just in the emergency room,” McKay said. Dr. Ian Hons, chief of staff at Woodstock Hospital, said residents will serve in multiple areas of patient care. “They’ll see a full spectrum of what family practice can look like. And, at the same time, they’ll be in our hospitals working directly with our specialists,” he said. Hons predicts that waiting times in some areas of medicine will improve, especially as the residents move into their second year. “There is benefit as they become increasingly skilled as physicians to do some of the work the supervising physician is doing any given day,” said Hons. The goal for all parties is to encourage residents to become attached to the communities they serve. With recently announced paid tuition incentives from the province, it is hoped more young family doctors will opt to stay in the region. Ontario helps family doctors learn and stay in the province “What we’re really hoping for is that they’ll see a new physician on the corner, two years down the road, that they can potentially sign up for and become a patient of,” said Hons. “This is going to be the springboard for them to set up a comprehensive family practice or a medical practice within these communities,” added McKay. The new program comes just a year after medical students still in their initial training were placed at health care sites in Lambton County. Both leaders are confident the program will expand to other areas in the coming years.
