Helicopter tours to seduce future doctors

Family medicine graduates were invited to board a helicopter and parachute during a weekend of activities in Victoriaville to convince them to come practice in the area.

To make up for the glaring shortage of family doctors, about 15 graduates and their spouses were invited to come and spend the weekend in Victoriaville, Center-du-Quebec, from September 20th to 22nd.

The trip included two nights at the hotel, a lunch at William William Manor, St. Ferdinand, a gourmet tour, a visit to the Arthabaska Hospital and a musical dinner at Marie-Victorin Park in Kingsey Falls. Volunteers could do helicopter tours and parachute jumps.

"We decided to put the package in order to interest them and make the region known," says Dr. Marie-Christine Frechette.

The one sitting at the territorial medical table notes that family doctors are out of breath and need reinforcement.

"We really have very big needs in several sectors. We lack players, "adds Dr. Ève Betit, assistant head of department of general medicine in Arthabaska-Érable.

Job vacancies are as much in CHSLDs as in emergency, in hospital, palliative care, at home, in offices, etc.

Pierre-David Gervais, resident at the Family Medicine Unit (UMF) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, confirms that graduates, like him, are very courted. To his knowledge, no region had been so generous as to attract them. In fact, Victo had four times more participants with this five-star program than when it offered one-day formulas.

Mathieu Arsenault, a resident at the Drummondville UMF, liked being introduced to both the hospital and the region, which some were discovering for the first time.

"It could convince me," says Veronique Page, a resident at the UMF Laurier, Quebec. Thanks to this weekend, she plans to practice in Victoriaville at the end of her studies, especially that we promise help to her spouse, Raphael Lesage, so that he finds a job as a physiotherapist. The partners involved, such as the CIUSSS MCQ, Place aux jeunes Arthabaska and Maple and the Fondation a Notre Sante HDA, are hopeful that the initiative will bear fruit.