Dr. Robin Carter has decided to retire from his medical practice at the end of April. Carter says things have changed quite a bit in the medical profession during his forty years as a physician, noting family practice in particular has changed dramatically. Carter says in his first three years of practice he regularly made house calls but this past year he did only two. He notes people who now require urgent care are seen either in the walk-in clinics or in hospital emergency rooms. Carter adds the other big change has been the utilization of computerized medical records, including a provincial program called e-Chart which allows local doctors access to lab results done elsewhere in the province.

He says young doctors these days are better equipped for practicing family medicine, noting approximately eighty percent of training during the two years of residency between medical school and obtaining a licence is done right in the community. Carter says as a young man he trained in a hospital, adding many of the interpersonal and practical skills he developed were actually learned after he started practicing, through experience with more senior physicians.

He notes it also helps a community like Portage to have these young folks training locally. Carter says when he first came to town there were only eight family physicians practicing here and now we have twenty-two. He adds all the general practitioners back then were male and now almost half of our family physicians are female, which makes for a much healthier balance.

Carter says probably the biggest highlight of his long career was being able to provide obstetrical care and deliver babies. He notes he's especially pleased that three of the young people who were born in Portage now practice here as physicians. Carter adds his own daughter is a psychiatrist here in town and he's extremely proud of her. He says it was also a thrill to have young women he delivered as babies come back to him for obstetrical practice and to deliver their babies as well.