Posting this for any medical students who may be interested.


http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_deloraine-docs-20050516
Town woos future docs with scholarships
Last Updated May 16 2005 01:54 PM CDT
CBC News
BRANDON – A group in Deloraine is determined to lure a doctor to their community – even if it means paying for it themselves.

Like many small communities in Manitoba, the town of Deloraine, located about 80 kilometres south of Brandon, is having a hard time retaining physicians.

Instead of waiting for the government to solve the problem, however, a group in the community has decide to raise money on its own to attract a doctor.

Through the "Be a Med Friend" campaign, the group hopes to convince 125 people donate $10 per month to fund a scholarship program. The medical student who receives the scholarship would receive $15,000 a year for four years in exchange for working in Deloraine for four years upon graduation.

"The plan is open to any resident of Manitoba – we're not just trying to help somebody locally from our community," says program organizer Keith Dickie.

"That would be wonderful, that would be the best thing if we could, but [it's open to] any Manitoban student who could use some financial assistance and is willing to stay in Manitoba and practise medicine."

Dickie says if there is no opening in Deloraine for the student who wins the scholarship, the Regional Health Authority will buy out the contract, return the community's money, and place the student where he or she is needed.

The group hopes to offer the first scholarship this fall.

Anyone interested in taking part in the campaign – either as a donor or as a potential scholarship recipient – can contact Keith Dickie by telephone at 1-866-747-3592 or by email at