There is some positive news from the ongoing physician recruitment effort at Dryden Regional Health Centre (DRHC).

The hospital announced this week a new general surgeon, Dr. George Rabbat will be moving to Dryden in July. Coming to Canada at age 12 from Lebanon, the University of Toronto graduate is completing an extra year of training in trauma/intensive care at the university of Ottawa. His wife is expecting their first child in May.

“I had a great site visit in November and was impressed with the hospital, the community and the physician group,” said Rabbat. “It’s the kind of rural setting I have been looking for. We are very happy to start this new chapter of our lives in Dryden.”

Reciting Rabbat is just one of a series of new relationships in what DRHC Physician Recruiter Chuck Schmitt calls ‘a very good year’ for attracting health care professionals to Dryden.

Schmitt says Dryden is beginning to reap the rewards of the Northern Ontario School Of Medicine (NOSM) in earnest. Situated in Thunder Bay, the medical school is guided by a mandate to try to keep doctors in the north.

“I think the NOSM factor is really important,” said Schmitt. “We can’t underscore the value of having that school in Thunder Bay. We have three NOSM residents coming here and that’s doing what the founders envisioned. They thought that people trained in the north would stay in the north and we’re seeing that.”

Dr. Bruce Cook, Dr. Adam Moir and Dr. Dan Cutfeet will each begin their residencies effective July 2012.

Cook is originally from Dryden and will move his wife Kerri and their two children to Dryden this summer as he looks to complete the majority of his 2nd year of residency at DRHC by May of 2012.

Cook says the decision to come home to Dryden was further cemented after completing his third year of medical school in Dryden in April of 2009.

“The clerkship experience was a great opportunity to work with Dr. Dahmer and experience family medicine there firsthand; it was a tremendous experience and I feel really comfortable and excited about coming back to Dryden.”

DRHC’s Angie Bukold says good clerkship experiences have generated positive word-of-mouth about working in Dryden.

“They (Cook and Moir) have been some of our best advertisers — they convinced Dan Cutfeet to come here. If you give people a really good placement, they spread the word.”

Dr. Dan Cutfeet is originally from Sioux Lookout via remote northern communities. An Aboriginal , Cutfeet is poised to offer a cultural understanding in his approach to care to a growing urban First Nations population in Dryden.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to improve that connection and service to the Aboriginal community,” said Bujold. “He has a real interest in that, so it’s good for the community.”

Cutfeet is also an avid hockey goaltender and looks forward to hitting the ice with fellow NOSM student Bruce Cook.

“It will be fun to play a little hockey with Bruce and get to know people in the community,” said Cutfeet. “Our two boys are also looking forward to being closer to home”

Dr. Adam Moir hails from Thunder Bay and is looking forward to completing his residency in Dryden this May and starting work in July. Moir has taken on a number of roles of responsibility with the School of Medicine, serving on the Board of Directors and taking a very active role as a leader amongst his classmates. Dr. Moir and wife Nancy are expecting their second child any day now as their two year-old son Emerson eagerly awaits the arrival of his new playmate. The Moir’s have purchased a home in Dryden and will be moving in during the first week of April. “We are thrilled to be coming to Dryden, settling into our new home and raising a family. It will be great working with the physician group there and the fact that Bruce Cook and Dan Cutfeet are also coming to Dryden makes things all the more exciting.”

Schmitt says the addition of full-time ER doctor Dr. Laurina Turcotte and Dr. Lukasz Boba has added stability to emergency room services at DRHC.

DRHC is currently serviced by 11 specialist doctors who offer clinic every few months.

An additional three nurse practitioners — Sandra Ottertail, Tara Ogier and Leanne Bratland have been added in the past year.

Working as a nurse at DRHC for three years, Bratland completed her nurse practitioner training through distance education and co-op placements at the clinic under the tutelage of the local physicians.

Tara Ogier joined the Dingwall Medical Group/Family Health Team in Dryden in January. Originally from Atikokan, Tara completed her nurse practitioner training in Winnipeg after eight years as a nurse. Ogier and her husband recently purchased a home in Dryden and is enjoying the rural lifestyle she is accustomed to. With husband Mike and two young girls in tow, the family is finding the transition to life in Dryden very comfortable with baseball leagues, broomball, fishing, hunting and camping on their to do list.

“We are happy to be in Dryden and the girls love their new school and have made friends very quickly, it’s great” said Ogier.