Northern Alberta Medical Program (NAMP),<\/a> who will complete their education at Northwestern Polytechnic\u2019s campus in Grande Prairie, Alta., and communities across northern Alberta.<\/p>\nThe program is part of a province-wide effort to expand medical education and address health care gaps in rural communities, linking the University of Alberta with Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually the first time in the Province of Alberta where a learner can start their medical degree and finish their medical degree without needing to be in Edmonton or Calgary,\u201d assistant dean of NAMP, Dr. Richard Martin, told Global News.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always challenges in finding good providers in smaller places,\u201d Dr. Martin said.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Martin is a physician in Grande Prairie who trained at the University of Alberta.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe hope is that the students that are in our program we\u2019ll actually be able to touch the life of being in smaller places, which is what they may not be able to see from a major metropolitan centre like Edmonton,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Students enrolled in the program will receive the same education as their counterparts who are studying in Edmonton, but with smaller class sizes and diverse clinical experiences that are unique to practicing medicine in northern communities.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s located within the new Grande Prairie Regional Hospital in what university officials are calling a cutting-edge facility \u201cthat offers 40,000 square feet of teaching, learning, research and administration space.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine a better career than the one I was lucky enough to have,\u201d Dr. Martin said. \u201cThat I can be a part of patients, families, the community, in ways that I don\u2019t think I could achieve in other places.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hopes the same thing will rub off on the students who study in his community.<\/p>\n
\u201cRural communities are so strongly engaged with this project, by making sure that they create such welcoming community,\u201d he said. \u201c(I hope) it helps the learners see these places as not simply a place to work, but a place to live, a place experience their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Megan Hopkins is one of the medical students that will be training in Grande Prairie, her home community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the opportunity came up for me to go to medical school in my own community, it was an opportunity I was very excited for,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cYou get to be a jack of all trades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hopkins is a pharmacist at the Grande Prairie Hospital and works in the emergency room there already.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say at least 50 per cent of our visits could have been prevented if people had a primary care provider,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s excited to show her classmates what her community has to offer.<\/p>\n
The province of Alberta announced the new program in April 2024, investing $224.8 million to help train more physicians in rural Alberta, with training centres in Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.<\/p>\n
The University of Calgary is partnering with the University of Lethbridge to develop the new training centre in Lethbridge.<\/p>\n
According to the province, the combined programs will contribute more than 100 practicing physicians a year.<\/p>\n
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