Women make up 75% of Southern Health surgical team

In a profession that has historically consisted of male physicians, people are taking note of a surgical team in the Southern Health Region due to the high number of female surgeons in that group.

Dr. Alexis Marshall is practicing at the C.W. Wiebe Medical Centre in 2020, conducting surgeries out of Boundary Trails Health Centre (BTHC). She is an orthopedic surgeon with a special interest in hip and knee replacement and diabetic foot.

Dr. Marshall is also part of a surgical team that surpasses the national average for female surgeons. She says her team at the clinic is very united, and 10 of 13 surgeons are women.Dr. Alexis Marshall - Orthopedic Surgeon with special interest in hip and knee replacement and diabetic foot. (photo courtesy of the CW Wiebe Medical Centre Website)

According to Dr. Marshall, there is still not an equal percentage of men and women in medicine, especially in surgery. She said it is getting better, with medical classes at about fifty-fifty with men and women enrolled.

"In surgical specialties, there is still a bit of a disparity," said Dr. Marshall. "The Canadian Medical Association, they actually did a study looking at the percentage of woman in different surgical specialties in 2018, and at that time, there was just under 30 percent women in general surgery, and just under 12 percent women in orthopedic surgery."

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day, and the day is being marked in different ways around the globe.

Dr. Marshall feels it is important to highlight the strides women are making in the medical field. She says women bring a unique perspective, they bring a diverse set of skills to the table, and when you have an equal group of men and women working together, that's when patient care is best optimized.

"With our group, (C.W. Wiebe Medical Group) there's four orthopedic surgeons, three of whom are female,” she says. “The fourth is actually our most senior colleague here, Dr. Asham, and he's been wonderful. So, when I first showed up, he assisted in my O.R. for a number of times to make sure I was comfortable with the equipment, with the team, and just getting my practice started. And that's just one example of how he's been supportive of our practice, and how we've worked together over our time here."

"It's good to show everybody, both young men and women, girls and boys, it doesn't matter what your gender is, men can be excellent nurses, women can be excellent doctors or surgeons,” Dr. Marshall continues. “There's really no limit to what you can do. You just need to be able to put your mind and effort towards that and work towards those goals."

Dr. Marshall says the group of surgeons from the C.W. Wiebe group of doctors work extremely well together.

"It's been one of the most collegial groups of people I've worked with at any point in my training," she says. “That includes all of our support staff, the O.R. team, the anesthetist, nurses, surgical aides, everybody together actually works extremely well together here, and I don't think that's specifically gender based, but it is sort of a nice by-product here that we can talk about for Women's Day."

When Dr. Elizabeth Thompson first joined the C.W. Wiebe Medical Centre in 2015, she was only the second female surgeon on staff. At the time, 90 percent of the clinic's surgeons were male. Since 2015, in addition to her general surgeon duties, Dr. Thompson has become the Surgical Lead in Oncology and Medical Lead for Surgery at the Boundary Trails Health Centre.

As lead for surgery, part of Thompson's role over the last number of years has been involvement in some of the expanded recruitment.Dr Elizabeth Thompson grew up in Winkler. (photo courtesy of the clinic website)

"We certainly haven't set up our program to exclude our male surgeons, they work with us, they're mentors, in many cases we operate together on difficult cases, and they are very supportive of me being in the role that I am, which is the Lead for Surgery,” says Dr. Thompson. “And so that teamwork has come through regardless of whether they're male or female, and shouldn't dissuade anybody from wanting to come and try to work here, because we do work as a team, and our family docs certainly exemplify that."

Expressing a message to the youth in the community, Dr. Thompson says you really can do what you put your mind to. She adds there is a lot of opportunity, but you do need to first have some idea of what you want to do.

"When you come in, and see us for a different reason, ask us about how we got here and why, if you're interested in it,” she encourages. “We are completely open to that. And I would really encourage the youth, particularly high school, start to look to the future. You can do something, and it can be anything you want, and if it involves fifteen years of post-secondary education, I can tell you it's worth it."

Dr. Thompson says to maintain the strides women are making in this community and surrounding area, and if seeing 75 percent of surgeons being female is something you want to see continue, there are a number of things that need to take place.

"I would strongly encourage anybody, any female who is interested in moving further, look around you and talk to the women that have either opened businesses, that are on city council, that are in other places of leadership, that are writing stories for the paper, and see what they did to get to that position. And don't be shy to seek that out. As much as I love medicine and love my career, I certainly appreciate I don't do what I do in a vacuum. We need nurses, we need admin staff, and we need patients that want to come and be treated by us. So, I would happily support the other women in our community. It's International Women's Day, and let's celebrate the successes other women have achieved."