Doctors gather in Saskatoon for 67th Canadian Medical Bonspiel

For the past 67 years, doctors from across Canada have gathered to showcase a skill that wasn’t taught in medical school. Hallee Mandryk reports.

For the past 67 years, doctors from across Canada have gathered to showcase a skill that wasn’t taught in medical school.

Roughly 80 healthcare workers across 20 teams traded in their stethoscopes for sliders and their bandages for brooms in the annual Canadian Medical Interprovincial Bonspiel.

“It’s a tradition, and I think it’s camaraderie. As providers and physicians and healthcare providers across multiple disciplines, we have an opportunity to get together, compete, and yet also have education to share with one another,” Dr. Keafe Davis, a pediatric nephrologist and the chair of the organizing committee for the Saskatoon Medical Bonspiel, said.

Hosted in a different city each year, Saskatoon’s Sutherland Curling Club took on the role for the 67th iteration of the event.

“This is a very special event with a lot of tradition. And if you win the a event which is extremely difficult to do, you earn yourself a blue jacket and the opportunity to bagpipe it into the banquet,” Davis said.

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The members of the winning team each receive a coveted blue jacket each year. Dr. Jess Melle, a family physician from Saskatoon, has won that jacket four times after participating in the bonspiel for more than two decades.

“This is my 21st time playing... and that’s pretty typical. And so we’ve got to know each other over the years. We all have friendly rivalries, lots of emails, texts and things that go back and forth leading up to it,” Melle said.

While wearing that blue jacket at the end of the weekend is undoubtedly a great feeling, Melle shared that the event is more about having fun than anything else.

“It’s no secret that I think we lead pretty stressful, pretty busy lives. So it’s good to be able to get together and have just a fun time, be able to relax, be able to get together and talk about things in our lives and in our professional lives too, and just to get some stress relief and enjoyment,” Melle said.