Desert Doctors’ Clinic in Osoyoos has a new family doctor, Dr. Kristin Burles, who recently moved to the area from Alberta. She is currently in the process of taking new patients from the existing waitlist.
Along with her family medicine practice at the clinic, Burles will also work at the Oliver Hospital’s emergency department, and will be taking long-term patients from Mariposa Gardens.
In addition, Burles has special training in suboxone and methadone treatment for patients who may have a developed dependency on opioids, either through substance use or prescribed medication.
Given the special license needed to work with these treatments, not every doctor can do it, but there is a need in the community, according to Burles.
With her extended list of duties, Burles jokes that she’s practically doing everything except delivering babies.
“Whenever anyone asks you what kind of doctor you are, if you say family medicine, they always go, ‘oh, just a family doctor,’ but actually, we are required to know a bit about everything, which is really challenging,” explains Burles. “But what makes it more challenging in a small community is that we need to know a lot more about everything, because our patients don’t have the same access to specialists and multidisciplinary teams.”
Despite the heavy load, Burles was in fact seeking to work in a smaller community like Osoyoos. She has also spent a lot of time in the Okanagan previously, from visiting her family in Penticton, and is familiar with the region.
“I wanted to make sure I could serve emergency medicine and have a practice,” said Burles, “I like the flexibility of working in the smaller communities, and that’s what my residency prepared me for as well.”
Burles did her residency at the Rural Alberta Health Program based out of the University of Alberta, which is geared towards rural medicine. All of her family medicine rotations were in rural communities with small emergency departments, where Burles was practicing full scope medicine.
Her previous education also includes an undergraduate degree in immunology and infectious diseases, and a masters degree in virology, where she did hands-on research with viruses. Burles also worked in brain injury and stroke rehabilitation for around six months before coming here to set up her practice in Osoyoos.
Currently, Burles is looking at accepting around 600 patients, but will continue to scale up based on her availability, and making sure she has the time and can be easily accessible to patients.
Desert Doctors’ Clinic is requesting anyone who wants to sign up to be on the waitlist to do so online at www.divisionbc.ca/sos
