President’s Message: Relationships

As rural physicians, we understand better than most the importance of relationships in our communities. Many of you are not only compassionate caregivers in your area, but also coaches, mentors, volunteers and business owners. As someone who did not know the privilege of a rural upbringing, my wife Jennifer and I have been overjoyed at the opportunity to raise our children in a welcoming, culturally diverse and supportive community. The SRPC has enjoyed productive relationships with several other organisations that set forth policies impacting rural health. One of the most notable relationships is with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). The creation of the rural road map and subsequent implementation plan was an important collaboration between our two organisations. Hundreds of our members benefited from the National Advanced Skills Training Programme highlighting another important joint venture. We were invited to the Education Design Retreat in 2023 and the SRPC perspective was incorporated into the aspects of curricular redesign in family medicine training. Recently, past president Dr. Sarah Lesperance, our COO Jennifer Barr and I have had several opportunities to dialogue with the new CEO of the CFPC, Dr. Mike Allan, President Dr. Mike Green, as well as other CFPC board members. We introduced the concept of our role in ‘rural proofing’, as far upstream as possible, decisions that affect our members and most importantly our communities. These were the first in what will be an on-going commitment to collaborative meetings amongst our organisations. As the leaves were turning your executive was hard at work representing the SRPC at a variety of meetings. We were at the WONCA Rural-Ubuntu 2024 in South Africa in September. The Canadian Medical Association invited us to their Apology to Indigenous peoples in Victoria the same month. October reunited us with our Australian colleagues at Rural Medicine Australia in Garramilla (Darwin). Mini Rural and Remote is back and will take place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from 29 November 2024 to 1 December 2024. The opportunity to learn and grow alongside these like-minded organisations is a privilege, and your executive will represent you well.