Wow! It’s Ten Years for NOSM and Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament

Last week, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and the Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament both celebrated their tenth anniversaries during the week-long hockey tournament held in Sault Ste. Marie.

Each year, employees, retirees, and volunteers of Essar Steel Algoma face off on the ice to raise money for NOSM students who hail from Sault Ste. Marie. During an appreciation event on January 22, 2015, Tournament Director Hal Mogg and NOSM’s Advancement Manager Gail Brescia unveiled a hockey banner to recognize the more than $25,000 that the Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament raised last year in support of student bursaries.

Since the Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament’s inception, more than $270,000 has been raised for¬ student bursaries that support NOSM medical students raised in the Sault. In addition, the community of Sault Ste. Marie has recruited 18 NOSM-trained physicians since the tournament began.

Community First Credit Union continued their support of the Bring a Doctor Home Hockey Tournament this year by collecting over $1,000 in donations in their two local branches, and by donating an additional $1,500 to directly support NOSM students. Community First Credit Union has also created an additional bursary for NOSM medical students, currently valued at $104,000.

“The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is so pleased to be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, and we’re doing so with gratitude to the many people and communities across the North that make NOSM possible,” says Dr. David Marsh, NOSM Deputy Dean and Associate Dean of Community Engagement. “On behalf of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, I am very grateful to the volunteers and employees of Essar Steel Algoma, to Community First Credit Union, and to the community of Sault Ste. Marie for the generous financial and emotional support that they provide to our learners.”

“Organizations such as Essar Steel Algoma, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and Community First Credit Union share the same value of community,” says Brent Lamming, CEO of Community First Credit Union. “All three of our organizations know how important physicians are to Sault Ste. Marie. We’ve all come together to proudly support bringing doctors home locally.”

“This is the tenth year of the tournament, and we are very excited to see the fruits of our labour,” says Hal Mogg, Tournament Director and employee of Essar Steel Algoma Inc. “These students are our children and grandchildren, and are returning home to fill a shortage that is shared by all Northern communities. We can’t express how gratified we are that the students and graduates of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine choose to be with us in the Sault.”

“A bursary like the Bring a Doctor Home Bursary not only alleviates financial burdens that we have as students, but also points to how much support medical students receive from the people of Sault Ste. Marie,” says Wilson Stephenson, NOSM medical student who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie. “On behalf of NOSM students, I’d like to thank everyone here who has made us feel so welcome, appreciated, and as though the work we’re doing in medical school is going to bring something back to this community.” Stephenson was one of two NOSM medical students to play in the Bring a Doctor Hockey Tournament this year.

Photo caption: Bring a Doctor Home Executive Members with NOSM medical students at a volunteer appreciation event held on Thursday, January 22, 2014.