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Thompson's new homegrown doctor

Thompson's newest family doctor knows all too well that there's no place like home. A graduate of Riverside Elementary School and R.D. Parker Collegiate, Dr. Ginette Poulin has returned to the city she grew up in to practice medicine.

Thompson's newest family doctor knows all too well that there's no place like home.

A graduate of Riverside Elementary School and R.D. Parker Collegiate, Dr. Ginette Poulin has returned to the city she grew up in to practice medicine.

"Having worked in many places, it just doesn't feel the same as when you come back to your home community," she says. "There's no bigger reward than coming back to your home community where there's need."

Poulin grew up in a family of four kids, and after graduating from R.D. Parker in 1996, traveled to the city of Toulouse in southwestern France for a further year of education. Having taken French immersion all through school, the language barrier was virtually non-existent for her, and Poulin would in fact go on to take almost all of her studies in French.

Returning from France, her studies took her right across the country - picking up bachelor of science and bachelor of human nutritional sciences degrees from the University of Manitoba, then moving out to Ottawa where she completed a dietetic internship, becoming a registered dietician in the process, and then entering medical school.

She returned to Winnipeg to do her residency in family medicine, and finally ended up back in Thompson this September as the newest general practitioner for the Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA).

Though her education took a few twists and turns, Poulin says that some people were convinced she would become a family doctor from the beginning.

"If you speak to any of my friends that I went to school with here, they used to always say I wanted to be a pediatrician, so I guess it was always up there," she says. "Maybe I forgot as I was going through my studies that was something I enjoyed, because I knew always science was my area, but after I did my science degree, someone suggested 'oh, you should do this nutrition course, I think it would be interesting,' so I did that and I said 'you know what, I don't want to help in just one aspect, I want to be able to help in all the areas,' so I decided to apply for medicine and I went into medicine."

"Even through my medical degree, I wasn't sure exactly which specialty I wanted," she continues. "Right before residency, I was debating between family medicine and pediatrics, and then I thought with my background in dietetics and my personality, being someone that enjoys doing many things, not just one area, said family medicine would probably be for me. I chose family medicine as my residency, and I'm already very happy."

Even though her education took place mainly in Winnipeg and Ottawa, Poulin still found time to head North whenever possible. "Any chance I got, I tried to come up and do electives here throughout med school," she says. "In residency, instead of doing some of our core rotations which we're normally obliged to do in Winnipeg, I arranged to have those done here in Thompson."

Poulin says that one of the most interesting aspects of being a Thompson-raised doctor in Thompson is treating patients she has known in some cases for a very long time. "I've had teachers that have taught me [as patients], I've had friends of my parents, I've had people I went to school with in my own class, people I taught dance with, or that I taught dance to, and they're more than happy having me treat them," she explains. "Things have worked well." Sometimes, new patients have even seen Poulin walked through the door and perhaps not had any specific ties to her, but have seen her around town in the past.

"You might know them on a certain level, so [in treating them] you have that advantage knowing the situations, knowing how they are, knowing the environment," Poulin says of situations where a doctor already knows the patient. "The disadvantage could be, potentially the patient's having a preconception of you and of how things are, and they could be intimidated. Part of our professionalism is recognizing our subjectivity and being objective in those cases, or removing ourselves when equal care can be provided in that situation."

As a registered dietician, Poulin has an interest in healthy living. "Thompson, just like any other place, has room for improvement," she suggests. "Thompson has extra challengers - geographically being up in the North, costs for things are more expensive, fruits and vegetables, meats, those kinds of things."

"We're doing a lot of work right now at the BRHA to promote a lot of those healthy living skills," she continues. "We have dietitians that go out into the communities to promote how to pick better groceries, there's a lot of things that we're out there trying to work on. I think that's wonderful, but no system is perfect and we can always work to improve on those things."

Before becoming a doctor, Poulin had a side career as a professional dancer and dance instructor in styles such as ballet, jazz, and hip hop, an activity that has landed her in music videos and movies as well as at the Pan Am Games. "That's something for me that is always a passion on the side," she says. "I'm big on promoting physical activity. I like to tell patients often, if they're looking for that magic pill, physical activity has benefits on so many levels."

"I just started this week with some of the younger kids learning Irish dance," she continues. "I'm hoping to work with some of the people here to increase programs in aerobics, Zumba, some of those things."

"All the things that I've mentioned - education, nutrition, exercise, diabetes, mental health, those are all things that I think would be consistent not only with the BRHA but with my personal hopes for the community," she explains.

Poulin is still a dancer at heart, and is hoping to help bring in some new programs, but at the moment, her main focus is on taking care of her patients. "I'm in the day-by-day phase where, especially as you're starting out your career, I think that needs to be my main focus - establishing good communication, good relations with the patients that I have, as well as with the team members here. It's good to get to know on that level, and get comfortable with myself working on that level."

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