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Dr Josiane Cyr is a young family physician who has been practising for just two and a half years. She was a resident in the family medicine program at the University of Montreal. She completed her postgraduate training at Sacré-Coeur Hospital in the family medicine unit.
Josiane was born in the Magdalen Islands, a small archipelago in the Gulf of St Lawrence not far from Prince Edward Island. She did well in school and showed an aptitude for science and biology. As a result, she decided at a young age to become a physician. At one point she considered a career in surgery; instead, she opted for family medicine. “I think I made the right choice,” she says. “I prefer to be a jack of all trades as opposed to being confined to one area. If I had to do it all over again today, I would make the same decision.”
What she likes most about family medicine is that it allows her to see patients with a wide range of medical conditions. After graduating, she was able to concentrate on areas of medical practice that she enjoyed the most and where she felt the most comfortable. In fact, Josiane has a varied practice: she works at the CLSC in Montreal-North, mostly in adult care and the youth clinic, focusing on contraception and sexually transmitted infections. She also does short-term hospitalist care at Fleury Hospital.
Josiane also provides medical care to prison inmates. “It is a difficult work environment, but one which I very much enjoy.” Once a week she goes to Maison Tanguay, where women convicted of minor offences or awaiting judgment are incarcerated. These women are serving sentences of less than 2 years for various acts related to drug and alcohol abuse or prostitution. These inmates have sad stories: often abused in childhood, abandoned or placed in youth centres. Several of these women suffer from borderline personality disorder and depression.
Among her professional interests, Josiane is involved in treating transgendered patients. “These patients are marginalized,” she says. “They are often rejected by society and by their own parents. These people have a great deal of difficulty finding a physician who will agree to treat them.”
Why didn’t she go back to practise in the Magdalen Islands? Because life and medical practice are so much more varied and interesting in the city. “I did not feel like working in the emergency department or in intensive care,” she says. She is still very much attached to her roots, even though she has lost her melodious Acadian accent. Josiane often goes back home on vacation: she misses its landscapes and its beaches. In addition to medicine, Josiane has many other talents. She plays the piano and is a member of a choir. She also has many plans: she would like to learn how to sail and eventually she would like to have a family.
Josiane Cyr, a young family physician in Montreal, has achieved a great deal and has a great future.
Footnotes
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Dr Cyr is a family physician practising at a local community service centre and at Hôpital Fleury, both in Montreal, Que. She also works with incarcerated women at Maison Tanguay in Montreal.
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Dre Cyr est médecin de famille et pratique au Centre local de services communautaires de Montréal-Nord et à l’Hôpital Fleury au Québec. Elle travaille aussi à la Maison Tanguay avec des femmes en détention.
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