SUNDRE – A local physician’s commitment to ensuring continued health-care delivery in the community despite facing substantial challenges beyond his ability to control was recently recognized on the national stage.
Dr. Rob Warren, who alongside wife Dr. Michelle Warren owns and operates the Moose & Squirrel Medical Clinic in Sundre that the couple opened in 2013, was named the 2024 recipient of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada’s Rural Community Impact Award.
During a phone interview with the Albertan on May 2, Warren said he had originally learned the news by way of an email from the society while in Ontario teaching a course.
“Before receiving that email I didn’t even know that I’d been nominated, so it came as quite a surprise,” he said, going onto add, “I felt very honoured.”
The awards were presented on April 19 in conjunction with the society’s 31st annual Rural and Remote Medicine Conference in Edmonton.
“The review committee unanimously agreed that you are the most deserving of this recognition and award,” reads part of an email to Warren signed by Jenna Keindel, SRPC administrative officer, who when later contacted with a follow-up question said there were three nominees this year.
Asked for his thoughts about the society in terms of the value the organization offers rural health-care providers throughout the country, Warren said, “It’s comprised almost exclusively of doctors who are practising outside of major centres in Canada.”
That includes rural areas such as Sundre as well as remote communities in locations such as La Crete or even farther up in the Canadian north, he said.
“The founders of the organization recognized that there is a national voice for family doctors, general surgeons, anesthetists. But there wasn’t really a national voice for the people who did the kind of work that we do, which is doing family practice or surgery or anesthesia in smaller communities,” he said.
“And so they felt that the kind of work that we do was important enough and different enough from what our urban colleagues do that it was important to have a venue to collaborate and share ideas, a venue to celebrate our successes, a venue to coordinate to address the challenges that are inherent with in working in rural Canada,” he said.
“It’s been a very successful group both from a networking perspective – getting to meet doctors from across the country that do the same kind of work that I do – but also opportunities for continuing medical education that specializes in low-resource medical environments, such as you find in rural Canada,” he added.
Responding to another question about what continues to inspire him to bounce out of bed to come back to work in the morning, Warren expressed not only a sense of connection to the community but also a commitment to the clinic’s patients regardless of the challenges faced along that path.
“As you know, in 2020 Alberta was faced with double crisis – a crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a crisis caused by certain health-care policy decisions that were made by the government at the time, which resulted in a number of doctors in rural Alberta choosing to leaving the province or practice,” he said.
“We went through some dark times three and four years ago, and we were challenged to try and continue to provide services to our community.”
Although the clinic could not control the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic nor decisions made be the government of the day, the team nevertheless endeavoured to adapt to the best of their abilities.
“The community impact that was referred to in the nomination letters had to do with how we responded to that,” he said.
Tossing in the towel or even reducing the scope of their practice certainly were among the options on the table, he said.
“But our group didn’t feel that that was right. Our group felt that we owed an obligation to the community that we’ve been serving and that had been serving us … to try to find a way to make it work,” he said.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome was the fact new physicians were not immediately coming in to replace those who had left.
“We looked into an alternate way of running a family practice, which would allow us to recruit non-physician primary care providers,” he said, citing as examples three physician assistants as well as a nurse practitioner who have since been brought onboard.
“They were excited about coming to Sundre,” he said, adding they bought homes and have settled in the community with their partners and families.
“Looking back to the crossroads we were at in mid-2020 when we decided to take this leap, I’m glad we made the choice,” he said, adding the job remains rewarding despite the difficulties faced along the way.
And the days ahead might well be getting a bit brighter.
“The clouds are starting to part,” he said, adding a new physician joined the practice in early April with another expected to join the ranks later in August after graduating from the University of Calgary.
“We have a second nurse practitioner who’s going to be joining us in September; it kind of feels like we’ve got some breathing room again,” he added.
“We’ve surrounded ourselves with an incredible team. The only downside I have really about this award, is that I wish that it hadn’t been an individual award because it really was an entire team at the clinic that pulled together,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to practice any other way than with the team that we have in place,” he said.
“It’s been a tough three or four years, but I feel that we’re coming out the other side now.”
