We are one of Memorial University’s Family Medicine Residency streams – based out of Goose Bay, Labrador. Our program focuses on rural and remote medicine, indigenous health, and the broad scope of primary care.
We asked our past and present team members what they love most about NorFam:
“NorFam is a stronghold of rural generalism, and that’s something that’s kind of dying out elsewhere… This is a place where you can learn to be a true generalist; where nothing is outside the realm of possibility.”
Kathryn Versteeg, NorFam Teacher + alumni
“Where else can you be where you start the day delivering a baby, you work in clinic and see a few patients, and then finish the day on a helicopter trip to an isolated community to pick up a critically ill patient?”
Mike Curran, NorFam alumni
“At my MUN interview I met Kathryn Versteeg, and I asked her a question my mom had told me to ask: “What do all of the residents that choose to come to Goose Bay have in common?” — And she looked dramatically off into the distance, and then said “Courage.” And at the time I was like ‘Ok, cool answer’ and then as I thought about it later, I realized that I want to do that — I want to be challenged, I want to have to think creatively, in a difficult but really stimulating environment, and I want to be a clinician and person with courage. And I can say, being a year and a half in, that it is absolutely true. Being around people that emulate that and having staff that are not only phenomenal doctors but really phenomenal humans; demonstrating how to give care in a courageous and very kind way has been an awesome experience.”
Caroline Patterson, NorFam alumni
“It’s a privilege to be training residents who can work anywhere in Canada — residents who are able to work in the most difficult and trying conditions in the Canadian North. [NorFam] exposes residents to a variety of clinical situations where they have to practice to the upper limit of their ability; it challenges them while at the same time providing sufficient supervision and back-up.”
Yordan Karaivanov, NorFam Teacher
“NorFam is a combination of acuity and continuity — you see someone when they’re sick, you admit them to hospital under yourself, and then — the most rewarding part — you get to follow them up in your clinic. You follow them through that whole process, build that relationship, get to know their family, and get to see them be well again.”
Nora Purcell, NorFam alumni