16
view . summer 2008
David Dudok wants more young people from
local high schools to follow in his footsteps
and pursue careers as physicians in Windsor.
Dudok enters his fourth and final year
this fall at the Schulich School of Medicine
& Dentistry at the University of Western
Ontario. In year three, Dudok opted to do all
of his clinical training in the Windsor region
through the Southwestern Ontario Medical
Education Network (SWOMEN), which has
its office at the University of Windsor.
Clinical training is a demanding stretch
in the road to becoming a doctor, yet Dudok
managed to act as an ambassador for the
Windsor medical education program that
begins this September.
Medical students in Windsor will lift
morale across the community, says Dudok.
“Young people choose medicine because
they want to help. They are optimistic
and will bring that kind of energy to the
community.”
Dudok says that a significant number of
the medical students he has met in London
are interested in staying there to practise.
“That same kind of thinking will happen
here in Windsor,” he said, “when our
medical school has all four years going and
enrollment is close to 100 students.”
He says that the students who come to
Windsor through the SWOMEN program
for their clinical training have found the
medical community and others to be
welcoming and friendly.
The medical education facility at
UWindsor has a price tag of $24 million.
The Ontario Government committed
$8 million to the project and the University
of Windsor is launching a local and national
fundraising campaign.
This spring and summer, the Schulich
School of Medicine & Dentistry selected the
24 students for the first class at the Windsor
campus. The group, the class of 2012, will
be the first to receive all of its medical
education in Windsor.
Supporting the campaign to bring
medical education to the community
were Windsorites from business, labour,
education and government. A new
medical school, however, is an expensive
proposition that would normally take many
years to start.
The UWindsor program is happening
quickly and for a lot less money, because
of an agreement between the University
of Windsor and the University of
Western Ontario.
The Windsor medical students will be
part of the well-established and prestigious
UWO Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry, though they will study at the new
state-of-the-art medical education building
at the University of Windsor.
The building is on the UWindsor
campus and is on schedule for moving
into during the summer. It is connected to
the Toldo Health Education Centre, which
includes UWindsor’s Faculty of Nursing and
new modern lecture theatres.
Windsor and Essex County have one
of the lowest physician-to-population
ratios in the country. In 2005, the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
Windsor Welcomes Future Doctors
(CPSO) reported that less than five percent
of Southwestern Ontario doctors were
accepting new patients.
In addition, many health care
professionals have expressed concern
that the Windsor-Essex region has a
particularly high incidence of heart disease,
stroke and Type 2 diabetes, well above the
national average.
In 2001, the Windsor-Essex District
Health Council concluded that there is a
correlation between physician access
and wellness.
CPSO statistics support what David
Dudok says he learned at Western –
communities with medical schools tend
to attract and retain higher numbers of
doctors and other health professionals.
Research also shows that medical students
who study in their own communities
will tend to set up their practices close
to home.
Dudok, the son of a Windsor skilled
tradesman and a registered nurse, says he is
eager to add to that trend by returning to his
hometown to practise.
David Dudok, fourth-year student at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the
University of Western Ontario.
