Family medicine residency expansion includes TDMH

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital is among the sites chosen for an expansion of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry family medicine residency program.

According to an announcement issued Sept. 22, the residency program will expand into Sarnia-Lambton and Oxford County. Locally, those partnerships include Rural Roads Health Services’ Tillsonburg and Ingersoll sites and Woodstock Hospital.

Beginning in 2027, the new sites in Sarnia-Lambton and Oxford County will each welcome two residents, creating four new family medicine residency positions across the region. As communities continue to face family physician shortages, the new sites will strengthen rural and regional training and support the future of primary care in Southwestern Ontario.

"As a medical school, we recognize our responsibility to help ensure the communities we serve have the physicians and health-care workforce they need, both today and for generations to come,” said Dr. John Yoo, Dean of Schulich Medicine and Dentistry. “At the same time, these communities provide exceptional environments for medical education. Residents benefit from broad clinical experiences, close relationships with preceptors, and meaningful connections with the communities and patients they serve. That is the strength of distributed medical education.”

This is a first for TDMH, and Oxford County.

“While our hospitals and community clinics regularly accepted residents from Schulich for two and four-week rotations, this is an important next step,” said Dr. Ian Hons, regional academic director for Oxford and chief of staff at Woodstock Hospital. “For the first time, we will be welcoming resident doctors to Oxford County for the entirety of their two-year family medicine training.”

The new training sites build on Schulich’s strength in distributed medical education, providing community-based experiences for learners at all stages of their training. That network spans more than 60 communities across Southwestern Ontario, from Windsor to Tobermory, supported by more than 110 health-care partner sites and nearly 1,000 clinical faculty members.

At the new sites, residents will learn across hospital, clinic and community care settings, gaining a broad range of clinical experience, including at TDMH and local practices. Their training will include emergency medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, internal medicine and palliative care, alongside comprehensive family medicine.

Hons is hopeful this will bring more family physicians to Oxford County. He pointed to Discovery Week, which sees physicians spend a short stint in rural communities, as a success in bringing doctors to the county.

“We’re hopeful that creating a more sustained training experience through the family residency program will build on that success, and give future physicians even more opportunities to get to know our community and why it’s such a special place to live and work,” he said.

Residents will work closely with local physicians and health-care teams, with an emphasis on close mentorship, hands-on learning and increasing responsibility as they prepare for independent practice.

“Our goal is to give residents a well-rounded family medicine experience that reflects the care they would provide in Oxford County if they choose to practice here,” Hons said.

“By embedding residents directly into these communities, we are not only providing them with a uniquely diverse, hands-on clinical education, but we are also addressing the urgent need for family physicians where they are needed most,” said Dr. Daniel Grushka, associate professor and postgraduate program director for the Department of Family Medicine. “Through strong collaborations with our health-care partners, we are training a new generation of exceptionally skilled generalists who are committed to caring for families across our region.”

“This program reflects an extraordinary level of collaboration across Oxford County,” Hons added. “Our local family physicians and specialists have embraced the opportunity to teach and mentor residents, creating a supportive, hands-on learning environment where they will experience the full spectrum of community-based care and develop the skills and confidence to provide comprehensive care.”

Tillsonburg residents may encounter one of the residents during a visit to their family physician or at TDMH.

Hons has high hopes for the longer-term impacts of the school being part of the program.

“Being a site for Schulich’s family residency program means that we have future physicians training with us, establishing relationships with our healthcare teams, and learning more about the community and patient population they would be caring for if they choose to build a career in Oxford County,” Hons said. “With time, we believe this program will strengthen local recruitment of family physicians, providing better access to primary care for members of our community.”

“We are very excited to be a partner in bringing this residency program to Oxford County,” said Nadia Facca, Rural Roads Health Services (AHI/TDMH) CEO/President. “We welcome these new residents into our community with open arms.”

“Bringing these residency opportunities to Oxford County is an important step in strengthening health care in Oxford County and across Southwestern Ontario,” said Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford. “By giving future physicians the opportunity to train and work in our community, we are helping build a stronger pipeline of doctors who can serve our communities for years to come. I’m pleased to see the continued collaboration with our local health-care partners and look forward to seeing these new residents become part of the local community in 2027.”