The Crowsnest Pass is a ‘Promised Land’ for new RHPAP director

The Crowsnest Pass is a ‘Promised Land’ for new RHPAP director.

The Rocky Mountains drew Dr. Kristy Penner to move west to Alberta for university, but her love for rural medicine and her community keep the former northwestern Ontario resident here.

After practising 16 years as a family physician in Blairmore, Dr. Penner recently joined RHPAP’s Board of Directors.

“We really feel fortunate here,” says Dr. Penner, who lives in the Crowsnest Pass community with her husband, Darcy Neniska, and son, Felix.

“There’s always some new mountain to climb.”

Just recently she discovered a new hike about 10 km from Blairmore, called the Promised Land.

Other than driving through Lethbridge to go skiing in B.C., Dr. Penner says she initially had no idea what the Crowsnest Pass community entailed. An opportunity to do a residency in Blairmore opened her eyes to the opportunities available.

“I had seen the hospital on the side of the highway, but once I got here for the two-month rotation, I realized there is so much more than just the highway.

“The physicians were super committed to the patients and the community, and they had a really great work-life balance. I stayed in touch with them in my second year of residency, and initially the plan was to come back and locum (a fill-in for physicians while they are away from their practice).”

Dr. Penner locumed there for a few months, then spent time in High River. When some physicians left Blairmore shortly after, she returned and set up her own practice.  

Today, she enjoys a wide diversity of assignments: seeing geriatric patients and keeping them safe in their homes as long as possible; delivering babies; taking shifts in the emergency department and acute care units; collaborating with the area’s allied health team; and much more.

Dr. Penner is also involved as a preceptor through RHPAP’s Rural Mentorship Program and with the University of Calgary’s Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship Program, where third-year medical students spend a year in a rural setting under a physician’s supervision.

“It helps remind me of why I went into medicine and rural family medicine. It really just brings back how it felt to be a brand-new medical student. There is no better way to feel more confident than to have to teach a topic.”

She is excited to join RHPAP’s board of directors after becoming well-acquainted with the organization’s programs and support as a medical learner and throughout her professional career with additional training locally such as obstetrics.

Dr. Penner also participated in RHPAP’s Let’s Go Rural! events as a post-secondary student and lived in RHPAP accommodations for her various rotations. Throughout her medical studies she spent time learning various aspects of medicine in rural communities such as Hinton, Viking, Wetaskiwin, and Ponoka.

“I recognize how much RHPAP does for all rural healthcare providers, and so it was nice when I had the opportunity to apply for the board, getting that opportunity to give back to RHPAP, meet other phenomenal leaders across Alberta that are on the board, and continue to support and advocate for rural medicine in Alberta,” says Dr. Penner.

As an Alberta Medical Association representative, she says it’s imperative to have rural doctors’ perspectives on the RHPAP board.

“It’s obviously sharing all the things that we do in a rural community that might be different from a family doctor in a city somewhere,” she says.

“It’s important that healthcare stays strong here for all of my neighbours and patients who have chosen to live here. I want to see their health optimized.”

Rural areas depend on a strong healthcare system, says Dr. Penner.

“It adds diversity and experience across rural Alberta, helps with the economy and helps with the overall health of the entire province.”

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