Lac La Biche RARS

12/31/2025

12/22/2025

Its nearly time for Santa's journey to Lac La Biche County and the world! Just a reminder to take a moment of self care for yourself!
Happy Holidays from the team at RARS!

12/13/2025

So what do RARS volunteers do on a very chilly Friday in December?

* We collected and rerouted mail for an incoming doctor who doesn’t have an address yet.
* We recommended a local business to a different new doctor’s spouse who wasn’t sure where to go.
* We began the process to gather info to help an incoming doctor and spouse decide which school will best suit their needs.
* We are looking for a ride to get an incoming doctor from Cold Lake to Edmonton tomorrow so that he can pick up his vehicle that has been waiting for him for 7 weeks while he negotiated red tape. Know anyone? (Found)

You ask, “Where ARE all these incoming doctors?”

1 has just moved here and has a start date very soon.
1 is doing the required 3-month assessment in Westlock.
1 is in Cold Lake doing the required 3-month assessment.
2 of the above are living long distance from their families while completing requirements.

The Associated Medical Clinic and the W. J. Cadzow hospital will both soon have new faces for you to meet and welcome . . . because we are welcoming by nature.

Please encourage your family and friends to follow this page so that we can keep the community informed.

12/06/2025

This week we celebrate the one-year anniversary of the arrival of Dr. Daniel Owonibi and his family in Canada and Lac La Biche.
Imagine what that might feel like: you have never seen snow; you have been travelling for 40 hours on 4 flights with children, are in a time zone 8 hours different from your own, and you have not slept in a bed in 2 days.
Relocating to a new country means leaving behind work, friends, family, vehicles, treasured possessions and everthing that was familiar. Your carefully-selected possessions are packed in 18 suitcases, and you arrive at the Edmonton airport where you are met by complete strangers.
Before your arrival, the RARS' volunteers, LLB County and Portage College were busy stepping up to reduce some stress in the next 48 hours.
You feel homeless. The RARS' volunteers stay by your side. The County ensured that your jet-lagged body had a bed and food in your weary tummy. Portage College provided the bus - transportation to house your treasures, to take care of a few critical things before leaving the city, and to get you to Lac La Biche - but it is December . . . and dark, and you have no idea what is outside the bus window on the journey from Edmonton. You wonder if it was the right decision to relocate and are apprehensive about the future.
Your exhausted body naps a bit on the bus, and finally the Portage bus rolls into Lac La Biche after many miles of darkness, and there are lights and a community!
Awaiting your arrival in your never-before-seen home are more strangers. You meet additional RARS' volunteers, some of your new colleagues, their families and the neighbours. They welcome you, unload the bus, and have beverages and food ready. They show you around the house and point out that the fridge is full (Thank you AG Foods and Independent).
The people in Lac La Biche are welcoming by nature. Your heart is lighter. The stress starts to ease, and you realize that you have found home.

12/03/2025

What are some of the things RARS' volunteers do?

We pick up our new physician families at the airport. Even though they are jet-lagged, apprehensive, and overwhelmed, it is very exciting. We make sure they are welcomed and safely deliver them and a great deal of luggage to their new home in Lac La Biche . . . because we are welcoming by nature.
This week marks the one-year anniversary that Dr. Owonibi and his delightful family arrived in Canada, bravely encountering snow and freezing temperatures for the first time.
Memorable words: After moving between warm buildings / the Portage bus and back to the outdoors a few times, one of the children asked, "So . . . they put heat in all these buildings?"

12/03/2025

AGM change of date
January 26, 2026, 6:30
(waniskah room)

11/23/2025

Dr. Adeniran, our newest physician, and his family arrived in Lac La Biche today, and RARS introduced them to the Festival of Trees. Thank you to those of you who met and welcomed them, played basketball with the children, supervised the bouncy houses, supplied concessions with a big smile, and were generally “welcoming by nature”. The Bold Centre was buzzing with activity, and it was a fun-filled introduction to their new community. In the coming weeks, they will be settling in, and you just might meet them around town. Wouldn’t it be fun if they won one of the festival trees as a memory of their first day in Lac La Biche!

06/29/2025

To all the healthcare professionals and support staff in the Lac La Biche Region and beyond, thank you for all you do, every day of the year! 💙