Listowel Resident Testimonials

My 8 week rural rotation in Listowel was exceptional. The administrative and nursing staff were welcoming from day one and provided invaluable support. The preceptors truly cared about my learning and tailored learning experiences to suit my career goals. If a preceptor had a unique or interesting case, I was able to be involved to further my learning. The teaching exceeded my expectations, ranging from discussing cases, presentations during Friday lunch rounds, or during regular feedback. I was able to build confidence in my medical knowledge and skills through exposure to a wide breadth of cases in the emergency department, during family medicine clinics, hospitalist rounding, procedure clinics, anesthesia, and obstetrics. There was the perfect balance between fostering independence yet ensuring support throughout. Having the opportunity to learn in a rural setting truly enriched my residency experience.

  • Nicole Conners, PGY2 Family Medicine

After completing a two month elective in Listowel as part of my rural family medicine residency program, I could not believe that they did not have a full time family medicine program already. Hearing that this was going to be a potential possibility moving forward was great news to me. I love family medicine and comprehensive, rural family medicine especially. Listowel Memorial Hospital, the family health team, and the staff physicians have so much to offer trainees. Being interested in emergency medicine and currently in the CCFP-EM program, I truly valued my time in the ER. Not only was there high volumes of patients but also some great acuity to improve resuscitation skills. This volume and acuity was perfectly balanced by the opportunity to become more independent as a physician and manage the department as a whole while still always being closely supported by the staff physician. This brings me to, in my opinion, the most valuable aspect of Listowel as a potential family medicine site; the physicians. As soon as I arrived l, I was welcomed to the group and was made to feel at home. There is a great mix of seasoned physicians with many years of experience and expertise to learn from as well as newer physicians with relatable experiences and updated evidence based guidelines who are all eager and willing to teach learners. In addition to this, already being associated with Schulich facilitating medical students rotating through presents the opportunity to becoming involved in teaching as a resident which is another great benefit. In summary, I believe Listowel would be a great primary site to produce strong, comprehensive family medicine physicians. 

  • Dylan Russelo, PGY2 Family Medicine 

I have had the pleasure of working in Listowel at multiple stages of my medical training and whole-heartedly support the addition of a full-time resident to this exemplary teaching site. 

My first experience in Listowel was as a clinical clerk during my family medicine block. This was one of the most formative rotations of my training; my time in Listowel during medical school was ultimately what convinced me to pursue family medicine. After spending the majority of my clinical time in tertiary care centres, Listowel was eye-opening. Here were some of the most impressive, passionate, and collegial physicians I had ever encountered, whose skills as well-rounded clinicians were matched only by their love of teaching. It was a pleasure to learn from them. If Listowel had a residency position when I went through the CaRMS match, I would have ranked it first without hesitation.

I returned to Listowel in my second year of residency for an elective. I was impressed yet again with the breadth of learning opportunities to practice full-scope rural family medicine. Dr. Derek Gateman had assumed his current position as site education lead and his passion for the job was obvious from my first day. He made sure to tailor my rotation to my interests in a way that no other preceptor had before, while still providing ample exposure to all aspects of work in Listowel. I often saw more patients per day in Listowel than at my home site, which I am certain helped to prepare me for independent practice. Residents in Listowel are tested, supported, and inspired as they pursue the aspects of family medicine that interest them most. It was an easy decision to return to Listowel full-time after completing residency. 

  • Jeff Dietrich, PGY2 Family Medicine

I had the pleasure and privilege of working at  the Listowel FHT as part of my 2-month rural rotation in residency. The Listowel FHT is a collegial environment where the residents, staff physicians, and allied health professionals function together in a team-based setting. I had a great learning experience working at a variety of settings including primary care, inpatient hospitalist work, emergency medicine, FM OB, as well as anesthesia. I appreciated the flexibility from the preceptors who made accommodations to gear my interests in specific fields of family medicine. I had the autonomy to assess and manage patients, but also felt supported when discussing cases with my preceptors at any time of the day. I would highly recommend any residents interested in the broad spectrum of family medicine, to rotate through Listowel. 

  • Johnny Huang, PGY2 Family Medicine