RR secures doctors for four years

News Release

As announced by Dr. Dave Singleton in a letter to the editor this week, he and Dr. Joe Ennett have signed a contract to provide medical doctor coverage for the Rainy River area for at least the next four years. Along with the use of locums this will insure the Rainy River Health Care Centre will be able to provide not only regular Rainy River Clinic staffing and coverage, but also 7/24 hour coverage at the RRHCC emergency department.
Many of you will be familiar with Dr. Ennett as he has provided locum coverage here several times over the past months. Please join us is welcoming Dr. Ennett on a more permanent basis, said Dr. Singleton in his announcement.
Many of us commute to work. Dr. Joe, the Flying Doc, does it in his Moonie airplane. His trip from his home in Stratford, Ontario to the Baudette airport takes him about four hours, and he and Dr. Singleton have arranged their schedules to have them work in alternate one week blocks. That one week includes 40 hours of clinic time and 128 hours of emergency coverage. Emergency coverage requires a physician be available within fifteen minutes. A daunting commitment for both doctors.
Dr. Joe and his wife Sandie make their home in Stratford, ON where they raised their two children; Emily who now attends St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS and Jerry who is just finishing high school.
Following graduation from medicine at Western University in London, ON, Dr. Joe completed his internship in Comprehensive Medicine at McMaster in Hamilton, ON then ran a practice in Stratford, ON from 1994 until 2000. In 2000 he switched to full time emergency room service through 2007. He began also doing locum coverage in small towns around that are and provided a diabetic clinic for five years in Goderich, ON.
Someplace in there an airplane entered his life and he developed a passion for flying with full instrument rating for his light aircraft.
“On a flight over Maine to visit my daughter, I realized I wanted desperately to spend more time flying and what better way to indulge this than provide locum service to more remote communities,” said Dr. Joe explaining his decision to do locum coverage in several communities across Northern Ontario, including Atikokan and Marathon. His first to Rainy River was in 2010.
I like small towns and Rainy River is a great community. The people are friendly, the health care staff very professional and sharp. The gym at the hospital is great. The fishing is great and the apple fritters at the bakery are to die for said Dr. Joe.
“We still will need quite a bit of locum coverage to give us a break for vacations and professional development but we are finding there are lots of locums that are interested in coming here,” said Dr. Joe, commenting on the work load and family commitments he and Dr. Singleton face. (That’s why we need that Rainy River Locum House!)
While not attending to his patients needs, Dr. Joe spent several years coaching AA and AAA hockey, at Blue Jays games- a elf-confessed fanatic, assisting orthopedic surgeons in the O.R., fishing with George Johnson, and working out at the Huff ‘n Puff gym at the hospital. After all you have to do something to counter those apple fritters. And for you younger fans, he’s on a first name basis with someone named Justin Bieber.
So a hearty welcome to Rainy River- Dr. Joe Ennett- the Flying Doc.