Since May 1980, Dr. Gary Sibbald - a dermatologist who lives and works in Mississauga - has been holding monthly clinics as a visiting specialist for patients in Sault Ste. Marie.
Because Sibbald’s wife is from the Sault, the doctor first saw the need for a dermatologist in this community while visiting his in-laws. “It’s another way that people can learn relevant information around what they do in their day to day healthcare professional work. This is something that we’ve been fashioning over the past two years,” Sibbald said.
“On January 20th and 21st we’ll have dermatology for non-dermatologists, so it’s really training family doctors and other individuals to be more competent in assessing patients with dermatological problems because there’s a limited number of dermatologists in the north.” “Up until this time I really haven’t had two helpers like that and this also complements Dr. Wendy Walllace who is a family doctor with a special interest in dermatology. We’ve gotten probably for the first time a full complement of dermatological practice in the Sault with four individuals where it was really just Wendy and myself for a number of years,” Sibbald said.“20 per cent of family medicine is dermatology.