YOUR SMA
Rural family doctor named
Physician of the Year
By Maria Derzko
Dr. Gert Pieterse, sole family physician to the 855 people of
Porcupine Plain and over 2000 others from the surrounding
area, was named 2014 Physician of the Year at the Spring
Representative Assembly on May 9th.
Nominator and former Porcupine Plain mayor Terry Zip introduced Dr. Pieterse to the assembly with a quote by Mother Theresa saying “I alone cannot change the world but I can
cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
“This year’s recipient indeed follows this motto,” he adds.
Dr. Pieterse has been changing the world one patient at a
time, providing compassionate and personalized care to the
people of Porcupine Plain and the surrounding area for the
last 18 years. His patients describe him as an “unsung hero”
who always takes the time for them, and routinely puts their
needs ahead of his own.
According to one of his patients, “Dr. Pieterse always has
time for a smile and a hello even when you know he hasn’t
slept in days.”
Dr. Pieterse first came to the community of Porcupine Plain
in 1996. Originally from South Africa, he graduated from the
University of Pretoria in 1977, and practiced there until he
EMRmoved in Newfoundland in IN ADDITION TO he reloPROGRAM DELIVERY 1992. Two years later
cated to Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan after which he transiADOPTION, AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2013
tioned to Porcupine Plain.
“You see t