Search for Tatla Lake’s new doctor goes to the ends of the Earth
Dr. Rob Coetzee will come from Antarctica to work in the small Chilcotin community
For a year, Dr. Michal Smialowski searched high and low to find a doctor to replace him when he retires from his post in Tatla Lake, a tiny ranching community in the Chilcotin.
And that’s where he finally found his man: at the bottom of the earth where the prospect now works at an isolated, harsh Antarctica expedition base.
There wasn’t a whiff of interest from anyone anywhere else in the world willing to move to a beautiful — but remote and sparsely populated — B. C. ranching region.
In an interview, conducted ( out of necessity) through email, Dr. Rob Coetzee said he’ll be honoured to work out of a trailer in Tatla Lake, situated between Bella Coola and Williams Lake.
“I’m not sure of the distance between B. C. and our South African National Antarctic Expedition ( SANAE) base in Antarctica, but it must be about as far apart as two places can be on earth.
“I’ve always been drawn to remote settings. I enjoy working by myself, and I think the position ... will fit me like a glove — remote, rural, need for emergency medicine skills, breathtaking scenery, etc.,” he explained when asked why he’s so keen on succeeding Smialowski.
Asked about his duties at the South Pole base, he said:
“I’m the doctor, dentist, surgeon, psychologist, psychiatrist, nutritionist, etc. for the over- wintering team consisting of nine people. We were originally 10 ( including two scientists, one electrical engineer, one mechanical engineer, one electronic engineer, two diesel mechanics and me), but I sent the space weather scientist home for surgery in January when she tore the ligaments in her knee after a slip and fall on the ice.”
Coetzee has been a doctor since 2006. Before that, he was an Advanced Life Support paramedic in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Zambia. Just before going to the Antarctic last year as the doctor for the scientific research team, Coetzee was the lone physician on a Caribbean cruise ship.
Smialowski said he thinks the Chilcotin’s fantastic fly- fishing opportunities helped clinch the deal with Coetzee. He started advertising for a replacement many months ago, knowing it would take a long time to find one. Smialowski has set Dec. 31 of this year as his retirement date, so there will be a gap until Coetzee arrives about three or four months later.
Coetzee got to the South Pole on the SA Agulhas, the South African icebreaker servicing the SANAE base. He’s committed to the SANAE until Feb. 2014 when the ice breaks up and he can depart by ship. In the meantime, Coetzee has plenty of digital “paperwork” to complete, to satisfy College of Physicians and Surgeons of B. C. requirements for international medical graduates.
As he’s observed, the hurdles for any foreign doctor to work in Canada are “daunting.
“I’ve been working toward this goal since 2010. There’s still a long road ahead with much paperwork and red tape, and these challenges are made all the more overwhelming due to the fact that I will have to do all of it by email from Antarctica.”
Smialowski, who also provides emergency and anesthesia services at the Smithers Hospital, says Coetzee is a complete package since he has highly regarded South African medical school training and postgraduate qualifications in both emergency medicine and anesthesiology. He’ll have a roster of about 1,500 patients, including many First Nations. Smialowski said emergency medicine skills are often required, for obstetric care, car and ATV accidents, gunshot wounds, stabbings and heart attacks. Just the other day Smialowski rushed to a First Nations reserve to attend to a seizuring, unconscious patient.
Tatla Lake is the geographic centre of the Chilcotin region and when Smialowski first moved there from Smithers, his medical practice was situated in the basement of his home, on a 100acre ranch. Then he negotiated with the Interior Health Authority ( IHA) to practice “old- fashioned medicine” — minus any labs and medical imaging technology — out of a nursing station in an ATCO trailer.
According to University of B. C. medical school spokesman Daniel Pressman, interest in rural medicine has been gradually increasing in the last decade. There are now about 2,300 doctors in rural areas, a rise of about 30 per cent.
Smialowski’s impending retirement spurred residents of the Chilcotin to get politically active a few months ago. In a letter sent to health minister Margaret MacDiarmid, John Kerr complained that although the government’s goal was that by 2015, all B. C. residents would have a family doctor, “by the end of 2013, the residents of the West Chilcotin will join the five million Canadians without a family doctor as the local physician is retiring.
“This will leave a 500- kilometre stretch along Highway 20 without a permanent physician, the equivalent of going from Vancouver to Revelstoke without a hospital, a diagnostic and treatment centre, or an MD. If the 3,000 residents along this corridor were to live in a concentrated area there would be a hospital to service them. ( But) because Chilcotin residents are geographically dispersed, they have been ignored by the IHA and very little, if any, substantial changes have been made in the past decade,” the letter stated.
Kerr said in an interview he did not receive a response from the health minister. But he’s thrilled Smialowski has found a replacement.
A 2007 report prepared by the IHA — headquartered in Kelowna which is nine hours away — called for a team of nurses and a physician.
But with Coetzee as their doctor, it appears there will be no pressing demands — from him, at least — for any new buildings, health teams or technology. Harsh conditions are, after all, what he appears to seek.