Medical residents join PARAdime campaign to support the homeless

• Above, left side: Front row, from left: Nicole Delaney, Guan Huang, Gurbir Brar. Middle row, from left: Rithesh Ram, Justin Wong, Priyanka Mysore, Natalie Logie, Gillian Shiau. Back row: David Weatherby. RIGHT SIDE: Front row, from left: Natalia Ng, Stephen Annand. Middle row, from left: Brandi Iio, Debraj Das, Serena Siow. Back row, from left: Mark Ballard, Jennifer Leighton, Gregory Eustace.

Alberta medical residents are getting involved in health care outside hospitals this month by organizing the fifth annual PARAdime campaign. Medical residents  – doctors who have graduated from medical school and are now completing between two and five years of on-the-job training  – will fill backpacks with clothing and toiletries and bring them to local shelters. 

Today, four University of Calgary residents will drop off donations at the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre. Medical residents from across Alberta will also participate including resident physicians working in Edmonton, Red Deer, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat, partnering with local groups such as the Edmonton’s Youth Empowerment and Support Services, Red Deer’s Safe Harbour Society, the Rotary Club in Grande Prairie, Wood’s Homes in Lethbridge, and the Salvation Army in Medicine Hat.

“Although most of our work as resident physicians is done in a formal health-care setting, we also have a responsibility as physicians to be part of preventive medicine,” says Dr. Rafiaa Valji, a second-year University of Calgary resident physician in pediatrics.