The Carman Health Centre Board is looking back on another successful Rural Week. Two first-year med students from the University of Manitoba spent last week in the community getting a feel for rural life and what a small town practice would look like if they chose that career path one day.

Carman has participated in Rural Week for about ten years and Board Chair Les Vanderveen says it is important for the community to be a part of the experience.

"Carman is continuing to recruit physicians and we think Rural Week is an opportunity for us to expose our community to up-and-coming physicians. Recruitment...is more than just the position of doctoring but it's also living in a community and being part of a community."

He adds those lifestyle highlights can include showing off local businesses, restaurants, extracurricular activities and other amenities. "Just to identify them and for them just to see what's out here."

Economic Development Officer Tyler King says, however, none of the students that have visited Carman for Rural Week in the past ten years have returned to work in the community following graduation. He does admit though, that there has been a shift in how Carman is being viewed, noting that one of the med students that were in town last week had requested to do his Rural Week experience in Carman. This student was born and raised in the City of Winnipeg and was only familiar with how medicine was practiced in an urban setting.

Meantime, Vanderveen has some good news. He says a new doctor has been hired to work in Carman beginning in July. This will provide two full-time doctors for the community in addition to the half-time doctor provided by the C.W. Wiebe Medicial Centre in Winkler. The health centre also employs one-and-a-half nurse practitioners.

Vanderveen adds the Board is also mulling some strong prospects for the end of the year.