Medical Learners
Dr. Heather Laakso
OSMH is an active teaching site for medical learners. We offer core and elective rotations for medical students, residents from multiple disciplines, and midwifery students, and have rich partnerships with multiple universities. Our clinician teachers are dedicated and passionate about providing a positive and supportive educational experience for learners, while introducing them to comprehensive practice at a community hospital.
Description of Program
The Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) coordinates medical rotations for future physicians from the six medical universities in Ontario. Located in South-Central Ontario, our mission is to alleviate the burden on communities caused by the nation-wide physician distribution problem and create learning opportunities outside the academic centres and into communities.
Dr. Emily Paolucci
Dr. Emily Paolucci reflects on her experience as a Family Medicine Resident in Orillia Ontario.
Dr. Joel Runk
At the kitchen table in their small townhome with a postage-stamp-sized patch of grass in a crowded London neighbourhood, Joel Runk and his wife, Kate, pored over a map of Ontario, circling cities sporting a population of 20,000 to 30,000 people.
“At first, we picked more than 20 different communities,” said Runk, who was looking for a place to establish a family medicine practice. “Then, we found out Kate was pregnant and we narrowed our search to central Ontario where most of our friends and family are. Then, we looked at the hospitals and then we started contacting recruiters.”
In the end, the young couple set up day-long excursions to Alliston, Huntsville, and Orillia. The Sunshine City was second on the itinerary but finished as a resounding first in their hearts, said Runk, who noted Pat Thor, project co-ordinator for the Orillia and Area Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee, was instrumental in their ultimate decision to come to Orillia.