Medical students get a taste of rural medicine

Four students from Western University’s Schulich Medicine and Dentistry spent a week at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital as part of Discovery Week. Left to right are: Tracy Wang, Hamzah Algodi, Pranav Khatri, and Nellie Krougly. (Jeff Helsdon Photo).

By Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Four first-year medical students from Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry had a taste of rural medicine and life last week.

Called Discovery Week, the program sees all first-year medical students at Western participate in immersive one-week placements in health-care settings across Southwestern Ontario. Entering its 27th year, the program not only provides students with exposure to the hospital but also to rural life.

“We welcome the Schulich students to TDMH for Discovery Week 2025. Early immersion in rural communities for medical students is transformative. It helps future physicians see themselves living and caring for residents in these areas, fostering a commitment to rural practice and community well-being,” said Dr. Clay Inculet, Chief of Staff, TDMH.

From June 2 to 5, four students visited TDMH for a firsthand view of family medicine, surgery, the emergency room, and diagnostics.

The experience was real the first-hand medicine for Hamzah Algodi from Milton, Pranav Khatri from Toronto, Nellie Krougly from London and Tracy Wang from North Bay. In the ER, they saw patients receive casts, stitches, and wounds cleaned of debris, read ECGs, and observed and practiced ultrasounds. They had a glimpse into the world of internal medicine and surgery, seeing a cardiac stress test, colonoscopy, gastroscopy, minor surgery, melanoma removal and resection.

Various medical professionals talked to the students about family medicine, ophthalmology, and orthopedics. The latter included taking part in hip and knee replacement.

“We got to scrub in and assist,” said Krougly.

The students stayed at the Elm Hurst Inn and also gained insight into rural life, including a farm tour, a visit to a farm market, and even feeding a goat.

“I have even more respect for farmers and the work they do,” Algodi said, adding farmers work even harder than doctors.

“It gives us a perspective of who are patients could be in these communities,” said Khatri.

With Tillsonburg being a community with an acute shortage of family doctors, the question on many residents’ minds would be if these young doctors were swayed into considering locating here when they graduae. The first thing to understand, though, is they have three more years of medical school and two or more years of residency, depending on the type of medicine.

Wang said family medicine is on her shortlist for the future. Khatri is also considering it.

“I had an inclination I wanted to do community medicine and seeing it here I was happy with what I saw,” Algodi said.

“It’s given me a lot to think about,” Khatri said. “I need a couple of days to think more about it and absorb. I don’t have equivalent experience in a larger centre, like Toronto.”

Krougly, who applied to medical school through the Southwestern Ontario Medical Education Network, is leaning towards surgery, which she saw in person for the first time during Discovery Week.

“It gave me an appreciation that the doctors and staff have a deeper connection to the community,” she said of Discovery Week. “Even the doctors and staff have a tighter connection. That’s something you wouldn’t see in a larger academic centre.”

Wang noted that coming from North Bay, it isn’t much larger than Tillsonburg.

“If I were to practice here, it would be nice and I’d have a wider diversity of cases,” she said.

The students did point out that Dr. Tyler Blue, a hospitalist who looks after admitted patients in Tillsonburg and is a Western graduate, participated in Discovery Week – although it wasn’t in Tillsonburg.

“We are incredibly grateful for the continued collaboration with partners who welcome our medical students into their communities and provide them with unparalleled first-hand experiences,” said Dr. Victor Ng, Assistant Dean, Distributed Education, Schulich Medicine and Dentistry. “Together, we’re training and inspiring a cohort of physicians who are eager and prepared to practice in small and mid-sized communities across Ontario.”