A May blizzard didn’t deter the crowd at the Walk With Your Doc event at the PA Co-operative Health Centre on Friday morning.
Wind and snow was back in the forecast as mother nature continued to prolong winter into the spring months.
Despite the return of winter, Dr. Segun Owonikoko says he was pleased with the amount of people who participated in the event.
“It was very good to actually see. You see where the weather is and yet still seeing about 50, 60, 70 people turning out. That was so good. Not only did the people turn out, probably about 50 people or so really braved the weather and still walked in the weather. It was really fantastic to see.”
The event featured speeches from Owonikoko and several other doctors along with special guests Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alanna Ross and Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier. Mayor Bill Powalinsky was also in attendance and spoke to participants indoors during the post walk barbeque.
Attendees took a short outdoor walk near the clinic accompanied by several physicians with discussion being encouraged to learn more about the clinic and the services they’ve offered.
Owonikoko has been working at the Co-operative Health Centre since he immigrated to Canada. He says one of the things that sets the clinic apart is the support that physicians receive
“Absolutely great clinic. I came here when I came into this country. That’s where I’ve worked since I’ve come here. This is my 11th year and it’s a fantastic clinic. It’s holistic in a way that things are structured, there is administration and physicians are able to do their clinical care without worrying about overheads, without walking around worrying about everyday administrative issues.”
Walk With Your Doc is a province-wide initiative supported by the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) and the Saskatchewan College of Family Physicians (SCFP). The purpose of the event is to build connections with the local community. The SMA and SCFP also advocate for May 19 to be Saskatchewan Family Physician Day to coincide with World Family Doctor Day.
Owonikoko says promoting healthy choices through Walk With Your Doc can help prevent future medical issues.
“While I am a physician, at the same time I truly believe that if you tackle disease at the root cause and do preventive care, we can significantly reduce the disease burden of people. At the end of the day, resources are not exhaustible so just really using lifestyle medicine to tackle things (and) using healthy choices to tackle will reduce the number of times that disease can occur. That’s what I’m passionate about.”
