The necessary documents have been filed, the request is in and the waiting game has begun.
That was the word coming from Sun Country Health Region and Estevan's St. Joseph's Hospital officials last week with regards to an application to embark on a physician residency program to begin in Estevan, which would then roll out to include Weyburn.
"It's looking positive," said Marga Cugnet, president and CEO of the Sun Country Health Region.
"If we could have two first-year residents in Estevan in 2015 and then add two in Weyburn the next year, to get it underway, that would be a good start," she added.
The ultimate goal, she said, would be to have four graduated resident physicians in each locale, completing their medical training requirements in each city.
"The idea is to have two first-year graduate residents here in St. Joe's in the first year and they would return here for their second-year requirement, while another two first-years come in. Weyburn would have the same thing happening there," said Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan.
"Phasing them in like that would let Sun Country handle eight resident physicians without any problem if they're split between the two major hospitals," Hoffort said.
"That way they could work collegially. We remain pretty optimistic. It's quite a process though because the graduate students rank and select hospitals they'd maybe like to work in and the hospitals are doing the same thing with the graduating doctors at the same time. Then the match making begins and we would hopefully get our resident doctors," Hoffort explained.
Playing host to doctors-in-training is not new for St. Joseph's and its current physician roster.
"We host 20 or more students, many of them third and fourth-year students anywhere from two weeks to two or more months every year. Most of them enjoy the experience because they can get much more fully engaged in a smaller hospital with a small physician staff. So instead of being one of 50 doctors trailing around behind one doctor in Regina, and just observing, they get more one-on-one time with our local physicians and some hands-on training by being in a city like Estevan or Weyburn," said Hoffort.
The hospital's executive director said the physicians-in-training get to know what Estevan's major medical centre has to offer and what it will be offering soon, including a new CT scanner. That message is sent down the line to the medical school in Saskatoon. The ultimate reward, of course, would be that a doctor, after completing the residency program, would feel comfortable and welcomed enough in Estevan that they might decide to stay and set up a practice.
"If the stars line up correctly along with the match-ups, we could have a residency program in Estevan by next year," Hoffort added.
A residency program taking in four newly graduated doctors in Moose Jaw was recently announced. Other residency programs (outside Saskatoon and Regina) are already in place in communities such as Prince Albert, North Battleford, La Ronge and Swift Current.
