Sioux Lookout Zone Family Physicians

The Sioux Lookout Zone Family Physicians are independent contractors and members of a not-for-profit corporation which employs its own clinic and support staff. We are funded jointly by the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care and Health Canada, with funding channeled through the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority. Funding levels are for 15 full time equivalent physicians. We fill these positions with a blend of full and part-time contract physicians respecting their desire for a work-life balance and leaving room for locum support. Some of our contract physicians live in Sioux Lookout; others live elsewhere in Canada and commute. All of us work in the hospital and provide service to one or two consistent northern communities. We are responsible for physician services in 25 of the Sioux Lookout Zone First Nations communities.

We would like to introduce you to some of the members of our group and to describe to you the kind of people who are attracted to explore and join our unique practice in remote Northwestern Ontario .

We come from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, both as people and as doctors. We work together in a supportive team to provide innovative and culturally sensitive health care to First Nations people and communities in the vast isolated territory called the Sioux Lookout Zone.

We attract physicians who want to make a difference by practicing medicine away from the mainstream and in a cross-cultural context.

We are of interest to physicians who value learning and variety in their practice. Our practice attracts physicians who seek a rural/remote but rich lifestyle in a northern boreal setting. Our physicians share a common passion: the provision of excellent health care built on cultural respect.

Dr. Leslie Myers

Leslie Myers jumped a lot of hoops to get licensed in Ontario, but the effort paid off. In November 2005 she became a full fledged Canadian citizen, with a red suited mountie welcoming her to her new country. But in fact, for the past 5 years Leslie has seen more of Canada than most natural born Canadians and especially, the north. She now has an intimate knowledge of Kingfisher and Wunnumin Lake, after serving as their primary physician since October, 2000. Leslie is a part-time doc who lives in Sioux Lookout. She thinks she has the "best of both worlds" in that she can raise horses, dogs and cats in a rural setting, fly north to her communities for 5 days a month, and have enough time off to participate in the many activities she enjoys, which include church involvement, outdoor recreation and volunteer work. Leslie is an outdoor enthusiast. She loves to ski, snowshoe, hike and kayak. Every year she and her partner participate in the local Rotary Club's wilderness canoe trip with Rotary exchange students from around the world. Leslie currently works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, but she has tried a number of work arrangements with several cluster partners.

Besides the continuity of care to her communities, Leslie also practices obstetrics for our group and provides a valuable service to our patients with her colposcopy skills. Minneapolis' loss was certainly Sioux Lookout's gain!

Dr. Danielle Harssema

My first impression of medicine in Sioux Lookout was, "Wow, that's the ugliest hospital I've ever seen!" But by the end of my first week as a locum there, I realized that it housed some of the nicest staff and some of the most lovely and unique patients I had ever met. The practice of medicine here is challenging to say the least... It encompasses fascinating medical pathology and complex psychosocial factors in a remote setting-- it stretches you to the limits of what you think you can handle, but then rewards you in the grateful smiles of elders, the "high-fives" of children, and the personal satisfaction of making a small difference one person at a time.
I've been repeatedly impressed by the Zone physicians -- by their helpfulness, their mentorship, and their genuine compassion for their patients. It has been a privilege for me to work and learn alongside them. Sioux Lookout has been a fantastic experience, and I feel fortunate to have started out my medical career here.

Dr. Barbara Russell-Mahoney

When Barbara Russell-Mahoney came to Sioux Lookout from Alberta in 1995 to do a residency with the Zone Family Physicians, she had already identified cross-cultural medicine as an area of interest. She immediately appreciated the work in Northern Ontario finding it both challenging and fascinating. "The diversity you experience working with an Aboriginal population is rewarding," says Dr. Russell-Mahoney. "You come from an urban setting and go north to a reserve community, you meet and work with the people, getting to know them personally and understanding how they live - it opens your eyes and is very very interesting." Today, having worked here as a full-time doctor for ten years, Dr. Russell-Mahoney is still challenged by and interested in the broad range of health problems she regularly deals with. "The cross-section of cases we see here in a typical week offers the family physician the largest breadth of diagnoses you could be exposed to anywhere - from accident victims with multiple injuries to many diabetes patients with complications, to mental health issues... the burden of illness is high here and we work as a team to intervene as positively as we can in the full spectrum of health problems."

Dr. Lars Refling & Dr. Sharen Madden

Deer Lake is one of the 25 northern communities our practice serves. Deer Lake has almost 850 people. We are funded by the federal government to provide 5 physician days a month to the Deer Lake nursing station. We have two dear doctors(!) who share the community: Lars Refling and Sharen Madden. Both are part-time physicians.

Lars lives in Southern Ontario and works in the Zone 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off. He leads a rather exciting life in his off-time - he and his wife Linda go on a number of cruises each year, where Lars works as ship doctor. He also does emerg shifts in his home town of Port Colborne. His new found love (his old love was fishing) is his motorcycle - in fact, he has just purchased his second! If the weather is fair and Lars isn't working, you'll likely find him rolling down the highway, a smile on his face. Lars left his original family practice of almost 30 years and started to work full-time with our group in 1999. He left us in 2001 to be closer to his ill father. When he returned in 2002, he came back as a part-time-away doc and says it completely suits his lifestyle. He can have community continuity and comprehensive family medicine up here, but he has lots of free time in the south with his wife, daughters and new grandchildren.

Sharen lives in Sioux Lookout and works in 3 week blocks every two months. When Lars leaves after his 4 week work stint, she comes to work for 3 weeks, including one week north and two in hospital. So, for 7 out of every 8 weeks, Deer Lake receives care from Sharen & Lars. We use a locum to provide nursing station back-up from the hospital every eighth week. When Sharen started working with us 4 years ago, she was a part-time-away physician, commuting from Ottawa every second month, but she tied the knot this year (to a town doctor), and now enjoys calling Sioux Lookout "home". Small town living agrees with her and she is quickly developing a sense of belonging here. Her favourite pastimes are cross-country skiing and skating in the winter, swimming and kayaking (at her doorstep) in the summer and rug hooking on rainy days. She enjoys Deer Lake and enjoys sharing the workload with Lars. She says "the freedom a cluster affords gives huge quality of life".