From Rotation to Resident: Paul the Pharmacist

Before Paul moved to Medicine Hat four years ago, he knew it about as well as plenty of people travelling through southern Alberta: he recognized the teepee, knew where he was and kept driving.

“It was kind of a city I drove through, to be honest... it wasn't really on my radar” he says.

That all started to change while visiting the city as part of his practicum rotations, a key component of his program at the University of Alberta. While learning his trade as a student at the hospital and staying with a friend, Paul had the opportunity to familiarize himself with both the hospital and the city. This experience was how he found out what Medicine Hat was like once you turned off the highway into our community. 

As someone used to the pace and distances of a much larger city in Edmonton, the ten-minute trip to work was an early selling point. The small-town feel and community appealed to him, too. When he finished school and was offered a hospital position, there wasn’t a particular reason to rush back to Edmonton. He decided to stick around.

Making a New Home

About four years later, when we spoke with him, he was buying a home with his fiancée and finding it difficult to imagine leaving. Getting to that point involved changing a few assumptions. Paul had pictured Medicine Hat as somewhere people moved later in life, perhaps after establishing their careers somewhere else. He wasn’t sure how much there would be for someone just starting out. He found more young people than he had expected, including colleagues at the hospital.

“My department is quite young at work, so that’s been nice,” he says. “It’s a lot more lively than I thought it was going to be.”

Summer events, restaurants and getting to know his colleagues helped him see a different side of the city. But he also made a point of going out and finding it. Paul doesn’t describe himself as particularly outgoing. Moving meant leaving a familiar social circle and doing something that can feel awkward at any age: making new friends.

“I can’t just be a hermit. I gotta go meet people,” he recalls telling himself.

Coffee shops were a good place to start. Go to the same place a few times, and the faces become familiar. There’s something to talk about, and a chance meeting has a reasonable chance of happening again. That, and his co-workers, provided a ready-made foundation to build a new social circle around. 

“Not being a huge city, you kind of see the same people pretty easily. So it’s a lot easier to make those kind of connections,” Paul explains. “Within a few months of moving here, I felt like I had a new social circle.”

Some of those friends were also colleagues. Depending on how a shift went, they might head out for dinner afterward. Weekends could involve drinks, an event downtown or a trip to Elkwater. Making those plans was easier when getting across town didn’t require much thought. Paul remembers how, in Edmonton, where someone lived could make a difference to whether a visit was practical. Here, seeing a friend in another part of the city felt much simpler.

“I think it gives me a lot more free time in my day so I can actually do the things I like to do rather than just commuting,” he says.

Work at the Hospital

Work itself also turned out to offer more than he had initially expected. As he settled into the role, that next move became less appealing. The regional hospital served patients from surrounding communities as well as Medicine Hat, and there was plenty to keep him challenged.

“Initially when I took the job, I did kind of think maybe I would work here for a year or two, get some experience, and then maybe move to a bigger hospital in the city. But I see a lot of challenging things. Keeps me on my toes,” he says.

He also found something he had originally associated more closely with community pharmacy: time to understand his patients. With that familiarity and in-depth knowledge, he finds he's better able to serve his patients while working in an exciting and fast-paced hospital setting.  

“I get to know my patients a lot better.”

For Paul, that means understanding what someone wants from their care and what will work in their everyday life. A medication plan needs to make sense to the person who will be following it. Being able to have those conversations is part of what makes the work satisfying.

Finding A Place of His Own

As his career and friendships developed, so did his plans for a home. At the time of his interview, he and his fiancée were finalizing a purchase on a house in Medicine Hat. His sister had recently bought in Edmonton, which gave them a natural point of comparison.

Their homes were in a similar price range, with Paul’s costing a little more. What stood out to him was the combination of his neighborhood, a bigger yard, and a commute less than ten minutes from work. Buying a home hadn’t meant giving up the convenience he had grown used to.

Having a park beyond the back gate was another benefit.

“I can walk out straight from my back gate into a park, and there’s trails that connect each one,” he says. “So it’s been a lot easier for me to get outside and stay active.”

Ask Paul about an ideal weekend and coffee, food, and lots of time outdoors all make an appearance. He had worried about missing Edmonton’s restaurant selection, but the local food scene had been a pleasant surprise. In summer or fall, he would try to get out to Elkwater or spend time on the coulee trails.

By then, the city had become a place where he could see his own plans taking shape.

“I had an idea of how I wanted my life to look, and what I wanted to achieve. And I feel like here it’s been very easy for me to kind of align myself with that.”

Near the end of our conversation, we asked what Paul would tell his younger self about making the move to Medicine Hat, if given the opportunity.

“You’re going to meet your fiancée. You’re going to buy a house. You’re gonna have a great time,” he says. “And you’re going to love your life down here.”