Dr. Sean Groves was named 2023 Family Physician of the Year. (Submitted photo/Sean Groves)

By Derek Cornet

achievement

Groves named Family Physician of the Year

Jul 13, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Dr. Sean Groves has been named the Family Physician of the Year by the Saskatchewan chapter of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

“It’s a huge honour and I think really a testament not to me, but more to our whole physician group here and all the people who work in the health system up here,” he said.

“It can be really challenging work. I’m not much for individual accomplishments when it comes to stuff like that because there is no way I would be nominated for an award like this without having lots of supportive colleagues and people around me. I would see it more of an award that reflects the health care system in La Ronge.”

Groves wasn’t told why he was chosen as this year’s winner, but he explained some of it likely has to do with his committee work and leadership with the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) over the past couple of years, as well as work he’s done with provincial committees involving quality improvement projects.

Groves is also heavily involved in the La Ronge Rural and Remote Residency Training Program, which was launched in 2010.

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“The college is really into being involved in creating the standards in how we train family physicians and so I’m pretty aware of that work and I assume those were factors that came in,” he said.

Groves has been a doctor in La Ronge since 2005. He completed his residency in La Ronge and became an official physician in September of that year. Groves went to school to become a doctor at the University of Saskatchewan.

Groves noted he decided to stay in La Ronge for his entire medical career so far for several reasons.

“I really enjoy dealing with health issues in both an individual patient perspective and from a larger health system perspective, and I think working in a smaller community really allows you to have a perspective on the issues that affect individual patients,” he said.

“I also really gives you a great idea of how the health system can improve and how it can be better, and I really like having the freedom and flexibility to be able to do that in a smaller community.”

Back in 2019, Groves received the Fellowship of Rural and Remote Medicine by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, as well as named the Physician of the Year by the SMA.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno