RADVILLE, Sask. – Dr. Werner Oberholzer goes to sleep at night with his clothes and shoes stashed beside his bed, knowing there’s a good chance he will wake up at least once to help a patient.
He said it’s a fact of life for doctors practising in rural areas.
“It’s a sacrifice that people do not recognize and don’t think about,” he said. “People assume there’s someone there to take care of them.”
One of two doctors serving the community of Radville, Sask., he escapes the demands of a 24-7 practice serving 6,000 patients by jumping out of an airplane at every chance.
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“Skydiving is my relaxation,” he said.
That recreation stems from his years as a military surgeon in South Africa, where he and his wife and medical partner, Dr. Nelleke Helms, lived before moving their young family here 10 years ago.
Radville had been without a doctor for two years when a visiting Oberholzer chose Radville for his new home.
The town of 850 residents, with the Radville Marian health centre and attached medical clinic, is considerably smaller than their rural African city but it appeals to the couple as a safe place to live and work.
Medicine was the only option ever considered by Oberholzer, who was named the 2009 physician of the year by the Saskatchewan Medical Association.
He was rewarded for his work raising awareness about the challenges of rural health care, improving the quality of his own practice and his profession, and sharing his learning with colleagues and medical students.
“Dr. Oberholzer is driven to provide the best possible patient care in sometimes challenging circumstances,” said Dr. George Miller, SMA president.
Oberholzer bristles at talk of the award, which is hanging in the corridor.
While he appreciates the recognition, he points to his children’s acknowledge of the work he does in a framed drawing on his office walls, reading, “Dad I hope you save many lives today.”
He said the SMA award should reward the practice of the year. He credited his multi-tasking staff who routinely switch from ward nurse to emergency medical technician to ambulance driver depending on the emergency.
Regular ambulance calls leave the remaining staff to oversee the 45 long-term care beds, three acute beds and emergency room.
“At any given time, there might be two gone,” he said.
Receptionist Geeta McLeod said the centre is busy, with the two doctors seeing up to 60 patients a day.
In addition, she said Oberholzer travels to Bengough and Pangman each week to check clients in senior care homes. “Otherwise they’d have to close the homes,” she said.
“It’s his passion, caring for people, making it better,” she said of Oberholzer. “He’s a very dedicated doctor, he doesn’t like leaving even for a few hours.”
He fires back with praise for staff who bring him lunch, service his vehicle or pick up his children when he is delayed at the clinic.
Practising rural medicine is fraught with challenges, especially the lack of breaks. The SMA assigns a stand-in each year during the couple’s family holidays.
“I never share wine with my wife as I can’t drink,” he said. “I put my clothes and shoes ready by my bed. You’re always tied to your phone.”
He uses the computer and mobile phone to stay connected to the pharmacy and home-care nurses and to keep abreast of the latest medical news.
His days start around 7:30 a.m. with rounds followed by scheduled appointments. He rarely gets home before 7 p.m.
Casual dress is the norm every day, said Oberholzer.
“Even dressing up like a regular doctor doesn’t work anymore,” he said, citing the long days, “the blood and the snot” and multi-tasking he will be asked to do. This day, he spent his lunch hour installing a window blind.
Despite the hectic pace, he prefers treating the living in Canada to processing the dead in violent South Africa where it’s not safe to let children play unsupervised in the streets.
“It’s way more fun to see live people than dead people,” said Oberholzer, who has specialized forensics training and, with Helms, are associate professors in family medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
Oberholzer said there is a need for more rural doctors and more training in rural medicine at Canadian universities.
He said rural Saskatchewan is a tough sell for new grads.
“What are we offering them, never getting a night off?”
Oberholzer commended the community’s efforts to raise funds for a new health-care facility, which will attract new doctors.
Fundraising co-ordinator Jacquie Becker said the community is trying to raise $3 million.
She cited ceiling leaks, duct-taped flooring and plumbing issues at a hospital that has lived beyond its life expectancy.
Health-care centre is a big draw for people coming to the community.
“People feel better about living here and it’s a major employer in town.”
That’s echoed by farmer Ken Tatarliov of Minton, who praised the work of both local physicians.
“The doctor holds people in the community just because he’s there,” said Tatarliov.
Becker said Oberholzer draws people by his reputation.
“He gets people into specialists and to where they need to be,” she said. “He’s very thorough and people like his bedside manner. He’s very important to us.”
