Cariboo Memorial Hospital has two new general surgeons who are loving their jobs and the community of Williams Lake.
Amandeep Bajwa, 35, and Bianka Saravana-Bawan, 34, are also friends - they met when they were doing their residencies.
Born and raised in Surrey, Amandeep is the fourth of five children and knew she wanted to be a doctor at the age of five.
“I wanted to be just like my older sister who said she was going to be a doctor when she was 12. She’s a family doctor now.”
At the age of 13, she decided she wanted to be a neurosurgeon and then while in medical school shadowed one and thought that wasn’t for her, but surgery was.
It was a matter of deciding what type of surgeon.
“I was able to see the bowel while I was a medical student and things that develop when it is acute and realized I could do this for the rest of my life.”
Amandeep attended the University of British Columbia medical program and did her residency in Edmonton.
She did locums before accepting a job at CMH and arrived in July 2022.
“It has been nine months and still everyone is so nice here, and I think that is their genuineness,” Amandeep said. “It is a very collegial work environment. Everybody has one goal and that is the patients. I think those are the really great things about it.”
Personally she does not want to be super busy, but said there is lots of work and when she has a slow day she can “catch up on life,” so it is a good balance.
Engaged, her fiancé also moved to Williams Lake and is working remotely for a company in Alberta.
“I like the community,” she said. “It seems like a place you would want to grow a family and then grow old in. It seems like it has something for everybody.”
Describing herself as more of a homebody, Amandeep said she enjoys reading, but her fiancé who is more outdoorsy initiates camping and adventuring.
“We are trying to figure out places we can go where I can still be on call. He even got us a satellite phone. He likes to fish.”
They are renting a place on the lake and enjoy access to the water.
Bianka arrived at the end of September 2022.
Growing up in Victoria, Bianka attended McMaster University and then Calgary for medical school. She did her fellowship in Toronto and her residency in Edmonton, where she met her husband John Paterson.
A general practitioner, John has been working at the new First Nations Wellness Centre for almost a month. He started out working in Edmonton as a doctor, while she completed her residency.
Originally Bianka thought she would become an engineer because she loved problem solving and mechanical tasks as a child.
Her family had a friend who was a doctor and she was always fascinated to hear about his work, becoming interested in medicine herself.
She has an older sister who is a radiologist in Nanaimo.
While in medical school she considered going into geriatric medicine with seniors
“I used to work in the senior secretariat in the summers, but then realized that it involved a lot more talking than doing which does not fit my personality.”
Part of medical school involves shadowing medical professionals and through that she gravitated to general surgery and “fell in love with it,” and the fact as a surgeon she would be involved with more patient care as well.
Echoing Amandeep, Bianka said everyone has been welcoming at the hospital and eager to work with them.
“Overall it’s a really positive environment. Despite everything that is going on with shortages of nurses or doctors, everybody is really eager to try and find a solution,” Bianka said. “Being in that kind of environment really is nice and makes it a place where you want to come to work. You like not only what you do, but who you work with.”
The two work at the same time and Dr. Jean Oosthuizen, the hospital’s third general surgeon who has been there since 2005, also works full time.
Amandeep said the hospital has the capacity for three general surgeons.
When they are not working, Bianka enjoys spending time with their new puppy Ginnie, a miniature dachshund, baking, kayaking and water sports.
She said her husband is trying to encourage her to start mountain biking, but she is hesitant about racing down any mountains.
Both women credit surgeon Dr. Ashley Shaw, who they knew from their residencies, for enticing them to come to Williams Lake. Shaw was working at CMH but has since left and gone to work in Powell River.
Bianka said when they first arrived, Dr. Paul Magnusson and Dr. Emil LaBossiere took them out for dinner.
“I feel their enthusiasm was very contagious,” she added.
READ MORE: Our Hometown: The doctor is in the house
READ MORE: Initial work begins on Cariboo Memorial Hospital redevelopment project
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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