‘To win it together is the most wonderful part’
Rourkes named co-winners of WONCA 5-Star Doctors award
An unconventional approach to one of its highest honours makes perfect sense for the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/family Physicians (WONCA).
The WONCA 5-Star Doctors for the North America region made an unusual decision in 2017 as it named Dr. Leslie Rourke and Dr. James Rourke co-winners of the award, which generally goes to a single recipient.
The Rourkes were co-honoured for their life’s work as family physicians and the significant contributions they have made to family medicine for the past 35 years, including the development of the Rourke Baby Record.
The have demonstrated a commitment to the roles and principles that characterize family physicians, and as family doctors and leaders in the discipline, embodying the five pillars of excellence in health care characteristic of 5-star doctors.
Leslie said the news came as a surprise to both of them when they were notified of the award.
“This is a combination of us being humbled and honoured for being recognized for our life’s work,” Leslie said from Florida on New Year’s Day.
“To win it together is the most wonderful part of the award,” she added, noting that Jim was suffering from laryngitis and was having trouble speaking on Monday.
She said thousands of doctors were eligible who could have won the award and, as doctors, they each represent the kind of doctors they aspire to be when they enter the profession.
For WONCA to recommend the couple to be their 5-star doctors for 2017 and to be nominated as a couple is special, she said.
“As we say, Jim is 2.5 and I am 2.5 which makes us 5-star,” she quipped.
“We have worked closely as a couple on many initiatives and have earned awards separately throughout the years, things for the Rourke Baby Record, our works in rural education and in health care,” she added.
Leslie even led the charge in Ontario as an advocate for bike helmet safety changes.
The couple have been practice partners throughout their careers, taught alongside one another — first at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), then at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) — and have exemplified the five pillars of the WONCA 5-Star Doctor, through their individual accomplishments and their collaborative work with one another.
Both have received numerous awards of recognition throughout their extensive careers in family medicine. Among them are awards from UWO, MUN, the CFPC, the SRPC, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, all recognizing excellence and leadership in their contributions to the discipline of family medicine.
The Rourkes have worked together for more than 35 years, including their initial practice in Goderich, Ont., for the first 25 years, where as rural family physicians, their practice was comprehensive, including obstetrics and emergency care. The Goderich practice was also a main UWO rural family medicine teaching site. After a move to St. John’s in 2004 to take on the role of dean of medicine at MUN, Jim continued to practice in rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, travelling extensively throughout the province and in New Brunswick to visit teaching sites and provide clinical care. He also delivered humanitarian care and aid in Haiti in his role as a board member with Team Broken Earth.
After leaving her Goderich practice for the east coast, Leslie continued to see patients and practice family medicine in St. John’s. She remained a comprehensive care provider, serving a patient-community of all ages, from infants to the elderly, and adapted to the medically unique patient population under her care, due to genetically related syndromes that are less common in other parts of Canada. Outside of the scope of practice, they have been integral members of the university faculties at UWO and MUN, working to deliver and improve medical education for future physicians, and both have also co-authored numerous papers, book chapters and journal articles alongside their peers.
Jim has had more than 100 medical journal articles and book chapters published. In addition, he has delivered more than 100 lectures, workshops and presentations spanning from 1974 to present — including several WONCA conferences. Those presentations have covered a variety of topics related to practicing rural family medicine, rural emergency services, medical education and integrating social accountability in medical school curriculums. He has been a professor of family medicine at MUN since 2004, and was also the dean of medicine until 2016. He previously served as the assistant dean of rural regional medicine at UWO, where he was also a professor in the department of family medicine. Likewise, Leslie has published 40 journal articles and eight book chapters. She has lectured widely on evidence-based preventative pediatric health care, relationships and boundary issues for physicians and their families, and issues facing rural physicians, with a focus on women’s issues.
She was an adjunct professor for UWO’S department of family medicine and taught medical students and residents in her practice in Goderich beginning in 1984, and continud to do so in her practice in St. John’s. She was a full-time faculty member at MUN, and was named professor emerita of family medicine when she retired in 2016.