Regina’s hospitals are major health care referral centres for approximately half a million people in southern Saskatchewan, and access to medical specialists is a critical component of care. However, Regina has not always been able to attract and retain the range of subspecialty care physicians that are available in larger Canadian centres. Subspecialists are highly trained experts within an already small group of specialists. For example, pediatric psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry.

Without subspecialists to train our physicians, as well as treat complicated conditions, Saskatchewan is unable to run subspecialty training (fellowship) programs in order to grow our own subspecialist cohorts. When talented medical residents are identified as a good fit for subspecialty training, they currently must leave the province, often for two years, to complete a fellowship. While the resident is in training for an in-demand subspecialty, they often receive a job offer from the hospital they are training at. After calling a new city home for two years, it is difficult to encourage a new subspecialist to relocate to Regina.

Hospitals of Regina Foundation’s new Fellowship Program is designed to help our hospitals and our community deal with this challenge.

In 2020, the Foundation initiated a Fellowship Program, in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), to identify needed subspecialties and potential fellowship candidates. Under this program, the Foundation provides financial support to a resident while they undertake their fellowship training, in exchange for a commitment to practice in Regina for a number of years upon completion of the fellowship.

Our first fellowship was provided to Dr. Ernesto Figueiró-Filho in late 2019. Dr. Figueiró-Filho is in his final year of training for a subspecialty in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

“Without the fellowship funding from Hospitals of Regina Foundation, I wouldn’t have considered setting up a practice in Regina,” notes Dr. Figueiró-Filho. “The city just wasn’t on my radar. Now, I’m so thrilled to be joining the Maternal-Fetal Medicine team and building a life in Regina”.

One of the three Regina specialists in this field is Dr. George Carson, who has been practicing here since 1989. Dr. Carson treats women experiencing high-risk pregnancies; he has about 2,000 patient visits each year, and that number is growing. He was instrumental in identifying Dr. Figueiró-Filho as a fellowship candidate, and convincing him to consider practicing in Regina.

“The Fellowship Program allows the SHA to identify a resident with great potential, the Foundation provides funding to support their fellowship, and we can be assured of a return of service back to the Regina community,” says Dr. Carson, who plans to retire at the end of 2021. “The support from Hospitals of Regina Foundation is a game-changer”.

In 2021, Hospitals of Regina Foundation has approved funding for an additional three residents undertaking fellowship training, two in pediatric psychiatry and one in cardiac anesthesiology. “We are pleased to invest in the recruitment of the next generation of medical specialists to Regina,” says Dino Sophocleous, president & CEO, Hospitals of Regina Foundation. “Our goal is to support our hospitals’ priority

needs so they can provide the best care possible to our southern Saskatchewan community. Through our new Fellowship Program, we will attract new subspecialists to Regina to help provide better lives for our families, friends and neighbours.”