Dr. Janet Tootoosis firmly grounded in family and rural roots
A College of Medicine alumna and clinical professor brings her health care experience to her rural family medicine practice and the Saskatchewan Health Authority Board of Directors
Dr. Janet Tootoosis (MD'01) knows what it's like to be a patient in Saskatchewan’s health care system.
In 2007, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
That same year, she received surgery to remove the cancer, followed by radiation treatments at the Saskatchewan Cancer Centre in Saskatoon.
As a family physician, wife and mother of an 18-month-old son at the time, she says she would often consider how much more difficult her situation would have been if she were a single mother in the same position.
“Having this experience highlighted that not everybody has all of the things I’m fortunate to have,” says Dr. Tootoosis. “It made me pause and consider how I provide support to patients, and how I can make their care more seamless by going the extra mile and advocating for them if, for example, child care is an issue and they need a different appointment date. Prior to my experience, I might have thought, ‘I’m so busy, it’s not really my job to be playing with dates,’ but my experience in the system highlighted that patients may require support outside of medical care.
Read the full story on the Saskatchewan Health Authority website.