MELFORT — A doctor who lives in Melfort and works in Prince Albert and Sturgeon Lake First Nation. has received the Saskatchewan Medical Association’s Physician of the Year award.
Dr. Breanna Davis she is honoured, surprised and overwhelmed to receive the award, presented virtually during the association's Fall Representative Assembly on Nov. 5.
“I feel like every one of my colleagues deserves an award for the consistent, competent and compassionate care they provide every day,” Davis said. “I’ve never been more proud to be a health-care worker and I’ve never felt more like part of a team. To receive this award, in this environment – I feel undeserving, even a bit guilty, but obviously honoured.”
Dr. Michael Bayda was given the Physician Leader of the Year award, Dr. Amit Persad was given Resident Leader of the Year, and Carissa McGuin was given Student Leader of the Year.
“The recipients of these SMA awards have shown extraordinary leadership during the pandemic by taking on new roles and advocating for their colleagues,” said Dr. Eben Strydom, the association’s president and a Melfort-based doctor. “Their leadership is needed now more than ever as the province remains in the grip of the most devastating wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to date.”
For Davis, practising medicine is all about relationships.
“Once I’m invested, and relationships have been formed, you are stuck with me,” said Dr. Davis, the Saskatchewan Medical Association’s (SMA) 2021 Physician of the Year. “I’ve been at the Associate Medical Clinic in Prince Albert for 12 years and have been holding a clinic at Sturgeon Lake First Nation for 11 years. It’s not ‘work’ when you are connected to the people and communities you are serving.”
The fact that Davis travels from Melfort to Prince Albert for work was noted by one of her nominators for the award.
“An example of her dedication to her patients is that despite marrying and moving 100 kilometres away to Melfort, Breanna continues her practice in Prince Albert, including obstetrical care. She made this choice to keep continuity with her patients. This is another example of Breanna's commitment to the patient- physician relationship.”
Davis graduated from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine in 2007 and completed her family medicine residency in 2009 in Prince Albert. Nominators for the Physician of the Year award praise Davis’ focus of her patients and willingness to do whatever she can, anywhere at any time, on their behalf.
“She genuinely cares about the lives of her patients. I saw her laugh with them, cry with them, and simply be what they needed,” wrote a resident physician in support of Davis’s nomination. “I do not believe you could find a better candidate for the SMA Physician of the Year, especially during the pandemic, than Dr. Breanna Davis. She is an inspiration, and I would be proud to be a family physician who is half as amazing as she someday.”
As lead for the COVID-19 Assessment Centre and hospitalists, Davis co-ordinates physicians in both programs established in response to the pandemic. She has also been continuously involved in teaching and training medical students and residents.
She received the Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2016, the Clinical Teacher of the Year for Prince Albert by the College of Medicine 2015 graduating class, and Community Teacher of the Year by the Saskatchewan College of Family Physicians in 2014.
“I love what I do and feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to have a job that I am passionate about,” said Davis. “As trying as it can be at times, I spend a lot more of my day laughing (I have a pretty boisterous laugh I’m told) with my co-workers and patients.”
