Eighth Annual Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament Raises $30,596 for NOSM Student Bursaries

A Banner Fundraising Year for Volunteer Employees of Essar Steel Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie 

From January 20-25, 2014, volunteer employees and retirees of Essar Steel Algoma Inc. came together for their eighth annual Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament at the John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Since its inception in 2006, the Bring a Doctor Home Tournament has raised over $160,000 student bursaries that support medical students at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) who hail from the Sault.

A volunteer appreciation event was held on Thursday, January 23, 2014 to celebrate the $30,596 raised for the Bring a Doctor Home Bursary at NOSM. A cheque for this amount was presented to Dr. Janice Willett, NOSM Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs on behalf of the School. In addition to being an Associate Dean at the School, Dr. Willett is also a gynecologist from Sault Ste. Marie.

“The volunteers for the Bring a Doctor Home Tournament provide a shining example of how, when people come together, they can truly inspire positive change in their community,” says Dr. Janice Willett, NOSM Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs. “The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is grateful to the community of Sault Ste. Marie for the generous support that they provide to our learners each year.”

“Everyone connected to the Bring a Doctor Home Tournament understands our goal of recruiting physicians,” says tournament Financial Director and Treasurer, Brent Lamming. “Many of our collaborators are presently without a primary care physician. With our efforts, we are sincerely hopeful that students, upon completion of their training, will return to our city and become part of our community.”

The 2013 collection for this tournament marks the highest year of donations to the Bring a Doctor Home Tournament, beating the previous banner years of $24,241 and $23,000 and 2012 and 2011 respectively.