Our People: Spotlight on Dr. Aryn Khan, physician in Vanderhoof

Sanja Knezevic

July 8, 2019

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You might remember Dr. Aryn Khan from the fantastic story she wrote about taking part in a Mama Mia production in Vanderhoof. Her enthusiasm for her job and life in Vanderhoof makes Dr. Khan a great person to include for the "Our People: spotlight" series!

Dr. Khan, how’d you get into medicine?

I was born in Burns Lake, BC and always dreamed of becoming a rural family doctor. The road was winding as I previously worked in laboratory sciences, biochemical sales, and as a registered dietitian. I took a few years to travel and study abroad in England. In 2009, I started my medical degree at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I managed to juggle having our first daughter with medical school and residency without taking any time off, and still found time to snowboard, volunteer in Cambodia, partake in the multiple sclerosis (MS) off-road bike tour in Hinton, and enjoy window shopping at West Edmonton Mall. We moved to Vanderhoof in March 2016 and I literally hit the ground running.

What do you do in Vanderhoof?

I work more than full time in clinic, obstetrics, and emergency medicine. I offer circumcisions, lumps and bumps clinics, and I “scrub in” for surgical assistance. I do rounds on hospital patients, provide community detox/addictions support, and am now learning endoscopy. I am currently on the Medical Staff Association for St. John Hospital and am chair of our Facility Engagement. I love the variety of rural family medicine!

I also love coffee, cooking, visiting with friends and family, camping, fishing, travelling, kickboxing, biking, and gardening. My life is crazy-busy with three amazing kids, two dogs, three cats, two parrots, my husband, and the best job in the world: rural family medicine in Vanderhoof!

What would you say to anyone wanting to get into rural family medicine?

You have to have a lot of energy because you're always busy, but the variety is amazing. You can do anything you want to do and visit with anybody. You help all of your patients, right from pregnancy, delivering, doing home visits, and long-term care. It’s totally full scope, I love it. Staying organized is very key, because you are very busy and it's great to have people in your court helping you.

What do you like about the community you live in?

Everybody is amazing here in Vanderhoof! The community, all the doctors are incredibly supportive; they’re all my friends and my family. My kids call them all aunts and uncles. They've just totally adopted us and taken us in. We don't have any direct family here and it still feels like home. Everyone just wants you to succeed. All of my colleagues here are so supportive and they have all jumped to help one another. The collegial environment is amazing. I promote that strongly to our new recruits. It’s really a family of people who work together to make the best team. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. The support here is honestly amazing. They support you with anything! After the birth of my third child, all the doctors came in to congratulate me. If you're sick, people will ask if they can help with the kids. That doesn’t happen with most jobs. We've lived here for three years and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else because they make you feel so great.

When you aren't super busy, what do you like to do?

I love baking and cooking. Before I became a doctor, I was a dietitian because I love food. I'm a total foodie. I love going out to restaurants and experimenting with new recipes. The kids and I are always baking and trying new things. My husband planted me this big garden and greenhouse, so we've been eating lots of homegrown things. Being in a smaller community, I find all sorts of farmers, so we get a lot fresh and local from the farm.

What’s something someone might not know about you?

I really like to go out boating and, funny enough, fishing. We bought a boat a couple years ago, and we love to take the kids out on the tube and go swimming in the middle of the lake. We also like to do ocean fishing and crabbing. We’re off to Haida Gwaii this year. It's like my little sanctuary. We probably go there every year and just hang out.