.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After 11 years as chief medical officer of the NWT, Dr. Andre Corriveau will be taking on his next professional challenge - as chief medical officer for the province of Alberta.

Dr. Andre Corriveau, left, gets his free flu shot from Kathie Pender, occupational health and safety/infection control co-ordinator in late October 2008. Dr. Corriveau was named the new chief medical officer for the province of Alberta and will be leaving his position with Health and Social Services after 11 years in the job. - NNSL file photo -

Cindy Orlaw will take over as NWT's chief medical officer at the end of February.

Corriveau has worked in Northern Canada for more than 25 years. While completing his medical internship in Newfoundland, Corriveau had the opportunity to spend time in Labrador in the community of St. Anthony.

"It was just one of those things," he said. "I got a taste of what the practice of medicine in the North was like and I thought it would be interesting to explore further."

After his internship, Corriveau returned to his home province of Quebec, spending eight years, from 1986 to 1994, working in a small community on the Hudson Bay coast.

"Our job as family doctors was to travel the coast and visit communities and see patients," he said. "We wanted to stay North and so we went west and came to the NWT when our kids were still in grade school."

Corriveau said the appeal of the need for health professionals drew him into the North.

"It wasn't just some job somewhere. I got a lot of feedback and I felt comfortable working in the conditions," he said. "I felt drawn to this kind of life and one thing lead to another."

After four years as deputy medical health officer, Corriveau took over the chief officer's role when Dr. Ian Gilchrist retired. On the challenges the health community faces in the North, Corriveau said it all depends on whether you consider the glass half empty or half full.

"We're always challenged by the fact we don't have a lot of depth in our capacity so a lot depends on a few people," he said. "You're never quite where you want to be because there are things that easily fall off the track.

"We've done quite a bit of work as a team," he added. "It's not just about me, it's about all the people I work with. We've done a lot of work to strengthen the capacity of front line providers to do good public health practice. We can't be everywhere and we don't have experts everywhere so we need to make sure people know how to reach us and have proper health guidelines."

Corriveau said he hopes he is leaving a strong foundation for his successor, who is aboriginal.

"It's going to position some of these issues a little differently but I think it's going to be a good change for the NWT to have that aboriginal voice and that voice will also be heard at the national level," he said.

"I'm looking forward to just learning," Orlaw said. "I an very excited about the new position and I hope to be able to help the people of the North the best I can. I hope to improve the quality of health for the NWT. It's a new position for me and it's exciting."

Corriveau said he and his wife Patricia Baldwin will stay in Yellowknife for at least one more year and he will be commuting back and forth from Edmonton to Yellowknife when he can.

"We love Yellowknife," he said. "We raised our family here and our kids feel it's home. Things are close and you don't need to drive miles to do the outdoors stuff, the things we love to do. It has a home-feel now and it's hard to think of living somewhere else.

"Professionally, I was ready for another challenge and the offer from Alberta was too good to pass. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to Yellowknife. It was a tough choice."

Corriveau said he hopes the links between Alberta and NWT health care will allow him to continue to bring positive change to people of the North.

"A lot of the changes that may be changing in Alberta will affect the NWT so I hope to be able to look after the people of the North in a different capacity."