What do figure skater Joannie Rochette, hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, football player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, hockey player Mikaël Bournival and northern Ontario swimmer Dominique Bouchard have in common? Each has successfully started a career in the health sciences.
Dominique Bouchard answered the drug call. The Olympic swimming champion from North Bay recently graduated from the University of Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
I made some [parrainages] from different professions and when I’ve done this with doctors, I really like how they can change people’s lives. I think, that’s what I want to get into medicine.
It’s no coincidence that many former athletes choose health care, according to Atul Grover, director of Research and Action Institute of the American Association of Medical Colleges.
Participants in sports competitions tend to have the same skills we look for in our doctors: their willingness to train, their resilience, their ability to understand their level of performance and desire to improve it.he says.
Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at Laurentian University, Barbara Ravel, points out that elite athletes already have a good knowledge of human anatomy and physiology.
It makes perfect sense for them to enter a profession such as medicine that is directly related to those disciplines.according to him.
For Dominique Bouchard, the adventure continues with a family medicine residency at Horizon Santé Nord. Then, he wanted to work closely with the world of professional sport.
I love the opportunity to bring athletes back, whether it’s doctors on the Olympic team or something like that.he says.
Source: Radio-Canada
