Last year's health care troubles in Arcola seem to be alleviated as new doctors have been brought in to work at the Arcola Family Health Clinic and the Arcola Health Centre.
The most recent addition to the health care team in Arcola comes with the arrival of Dr. Hamid Bimesl. Having only just arrived on Saturday, June 7, Bimesl went right to work as he began practicing on Monday, June 9.
Originally coming from Iran, he was given a choice by his parents at the age of 18 to either become a doctor or an engineer.
"I thought about it and decided that a doctor suits me more," Bimesl said. "I like interacting with people and helping people through their difficulties and illness appealed to me more than working as an engineer."
Bimesl smiled and said that choice made life easier for him in the sense that he could only choose from two professions, while many people in the world have unlimited choice.
Though pursuing medicine would be challenging, Bimesl was intent on achieving his goal.
"It's hard to get into in Iran," Bimesl explained. "You have to pass a national medical exam with 300,000 applicants."
Following school in Tehran, the capital of Iran, Bimesl became a general family practitioner working for the Health Ministry of Iran and later starting his own practice.
Though he had found success in Iran, he dreamed of providing his son a better life.
"I have a son so I was thinking I could provide a better life for him," Bimesl said. "My opinion is that the Middle East is not a good place for kids to grow up; there's too many thoughts imposed by the government into people's lives."
In 2012 Bimesl and his family, his wife Mahnaz and his son Arsha (now 7-years-old), arrived in Montreal. Here they remained for just over two years as Bimesl prepared for the medical exam required by SIPPA to practice.
He had found out about SIPPA from a friend who had entered the program, but was unable to pass the exam. This was also Bimesl's first knowledge of Saskatchewan in general and specifically of Arcola because Bimesl's friend was set to come to Arcola.
Upon emailing and speaking with Sheila Simm of the Moose Mountain Health Care Recruitment Corp, Bimesl decided that the small town was just what they were looking for.
"I thought to myself, for me, I didn't know Saskatchewan, I didn't know anything about Arcola," Bimesl explained. "I started communicating with Sheila and she was very kind, then we got to know Arcola as a very nice, tranquil place."
"My first impression was good," Bimesl stated. "The people here are helpful and they try to help me with everything, and we feel safe here."
This was a welcomed change and challenge to the family as Bimesl laughed about being used to cities with approximately five or six million in them.
"Encountering something new lets you discover your soul, discover your personality as well," he stated. "Learning to adapt yourself to situations and always searching for new challenging opportunities, not just me but my wife as well, and this is one of them, one of the biggest ones."
Excited for the future and to meet more people in the community Bimesl is happy to have arrived in Arcola to continue practicing medicine.
