Staff
Grey Bruce Health Services (GBHS), working in partnership with Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, is kicking off the fifth annual ROMP/Discovery Week activities in Grey and Bruce.
This program offers first-year Ontario medical students an opportunity to receive ‘hands-on’ clinical experiences in rural areas outside their regular academic setting. Students get a chance to work alongside experienced health care providers and explore the unique lifestyle offered by the host communities.
“Programs like ROMP Week are an excellent way to bring young medical students to this area. They soon see that we have great health care services in an area surrounded by natural beauty, with lots of opportunity to explore the outdoors,” said Lance Thurston, GBHS President and CEO. “These types of experiences help to attract and keep physicians working in our rural hospitals and living in our communities.”
This year, GBHS will host two students from Queen’s University and two from Western University at the Owen Sound Regional Hospital. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of clinical settings – including the casting clinic for broken limbs, learning to scrub-in for surgery, a pathology slide session, and observing patient care in our busy Ambulatory Care clinics, Emergency Room, and Oncology and Diagnostic Imaging departments.
ROMP/Discovery Week students will participate in many outdoor activities during their stay, including waterfall and winery tours, hiking, kayaking, sailing, a barbeque with local physicians, and a night at the drive-in theater. They will also spend half a day at the family health team and will give a presentation to the healthcare class at OSCVI and the careers class at St. Mary’s High School.
