Medical students get tour of northern communities

Class started last week for students at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

David Musson is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Medicine. He says they start off the school year every year with orientation week and the first year students get on a bus and learn all about northern Ontario by visiting several communities and this year was no different with visits to Nipissing First Nation, Temiskaming and Haileybury.

He says a faculty member Dr. Brenda Restoule gave them a sense of First Nations Wellness.

She is a First Nations person and psychologist.

Dr. Musson says when they recruit for students they do so in Northern Ontario and in rural parts of the province too. He says learning about practicing rural medicine in French and English is an important part of the education the students receive.