The University of Saskatchewan established the comprehensive and well regarded Family Medicine program in 1971. In its evolution, the La Ronge Family Medicine Program was established in 2012 with graduates working in Northern Saskatchewan and all across Canada.

The 2 year program is broken up into several smaller training schedules. In your first year, you will spend 6 months in La Ronge before going to Regina and Prince Albert for the next 6 months. During those 6 months in urban centres, you will be completing specialist rotations including trauma, ER, pediatrics, OB/GYN, palliative, hospitalist and ICU. Following those 12 months, you will return to La Ronge as a second year resident to incorporate all the specialist teaching and initial rural FM training into honing your skills as a rural FM resident doctor. 

Despite it being a small community, the catchment area is large, covering a vast portion of Northeastern Saskatchewan. As a result, there is no shortage of learning opportunities available from the Family Medicine clinic, call shifts which are based in the emergency room, long term care facility, high school clinics, procedure half days, homeless shelter clinics, detox facility, and best of all the outpost/fly-out clinics. The outpost clinics usually have us going out to the outpost communities like Wollaston Lake, Stanley Mission, Grandmothers Bay, Hall Lake and Pinehouse by helicopter or fixed wing aircraft (by both float plane and wheeled craft).

In La Ronge, we believe that residency is about more than obligatory clinics and hospital routines. Being in a small community in the North allows for a lot of opportunities for community engagement and fun activities. One of our greatest strengths is how close we are to nature and the outdoors. The Family Medicine clinic itself is located on the lakefront of Lac La Ronge making it easy to sneak out at lunch and get a swim in as many of our docs do. The immense surrounding forest is full of well-manicured hiking and biking trails and when winter hits, those trails become snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails. Snowmobiling, quadding and dirt biking have a large presence. The numerous surrounding lakes allow for fishing, swimming, watersports, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, etc. 

The community itself is very welcoming to newcomers and happy that the residency program is here. We are a small community and look out for one another. Our healthcare team is even smaller and very close. If you need something or simply want to grab a drink, someone will be there for you. Your time in La Ronge will make you feel like you belong, and we hope that you seriously consider us!