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Doctor in the house Arviat graduate plans to return to Nunavut following residency
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, August 13, 2013
ARVIAT/HUNTSVILLE, ONT.
It's not every day a high school graduate from the Kivalliq finishes medical school to become a doctor, but Fiona Main accomplished exactly that this past June.
Arviat's Fiona Main is joined by her fiance, Bart Nichol, as she celebrates her graduation from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Sudbury, Ont., this past June. - photo courtesy of Fiona Main
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Main, 29, is a product of the Arviat educational system, having gone from kindergarten to Grade 12 in her hometown.
Following her completion of the 12th grade, she spent a year between Alberta, Ontario and Quebec with the Katimavik Program before heading off to St. Francis Xavier University (St. FX) in Antigonish, N.S., with her sister, Heather, who went on to graduate from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto with a master's degree in child study and education.
After four years in nursing at St. FX, Fiona moved to Ottawa in 2006 to nurse on a surgical floor at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, where she stayed until 2009.
Fiona said being a health professional was never really a passion of hers while growing up in Arviat.
However, she said, doctoral aspirations were always in the back of her mind because her grandmother was a midwife and nurse, while her mom's sister is a doctor.
"When I went to St. FX, I didn't really know what I wanted to do,” Fiona said. "I actually switched into nursing because I wanted to have a job after university.
"I enjoyed my time in Ottawa, but I always wanted to go back to Nunavut to nurse, but not necessarily in Arviat."
Fiona said she wouldn't feel prepared as a new grad, because nurses do so much in the North.
This decision led Fiona to enroll at medical school, so she went to the Ontario School of Medicine in Sudbury, Ont.
"I'm now a family medicine resident at the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, where I'll spend most of my two years of residency."
Fiona said it could be intense going into hospitals for the practical side of her studies during nursing school, but there is plenty of opportunities for new experiences, especially if you've never been in a hospital before.
"Suddenly you're expected to wash patients and do all these things with them,” she said. "Nursing school is also quite heavy on theory these days, so it was challenging in both those ways.
"When you start working as a nurse, you're more of a manager because you have to keep all these factors in your mind as you meet your patients and, basically, manage their day, so it's a lot of responsibility."
As for medical school, Fiona said it wasn't as intense as shows on TV can often make it out to be.
"It was no different than any university degree in that you have to be prepared to work regularly,” Fiona said, adding there was a slightly higher level of stress that comes with the high expectations of becoming a doctor.
"A lot of us had more anxiety around that, but, in truth, we didn't actually kill ourselves working."
Health professionals often have moments they didn't expect early in their careers and Fiona was no exception.
Hers came at the Arviat Health Centre, where she found herself on the wrong side of the care being given.
"I was going home to work at the health centre during the summers, and a little girl came in who had crushed her finger in a door. I was helping a nurse suture the girl's finger when I nearly fainted,” she said. "Then the nurses had to attend to me, which was kind of embarrassing."
Fiona said she would find it difficult to work in Arviat as a doctor due to the possibility of having to treat friends and family and constantly being on call in the hamlet.
Fiona said under-serviced areas can't recruit doctors because they are under serviced.
She said it's a horrible situation, but she doesn't feel guilty about not wanting to be overworked.
"It's very rewarding as a nurse or a doctor because you're giving a lot to other people, but you have to learn early on how to balance that with having your own life,” she said. "One thing about doing two university degrees; I got better towards the end at working more efficiently and that's a good thing.”
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