Dr. Sara Van Der Loo
- Dr. Sara Van Der Loo
- (From Atikokan Progress article)
Dr. Van Der Loo earned her B.Sc., in biology at Western University, went to medical school at the University of Ottawa and did her residency in Thunder Bay, graduating in 2005. Her residency was served in Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Kenora, Espanola and Mattawa.
The decision in Atikokan’s favour was a combination of its proximity to friends in Thunder Bay, the nearness of Quetico Park, the balanced work environment at the clinic and the good feeling they got from the town.
“I like the doctors; it’s a nice group of people here. It seemed like a good place to raise kids. That’s important to me because I wanted my family to be happy. Small towns are similar in that people are friendly but I really think that people who live in Atikokan really like it here, really want to be here. There’s a lot of community spirit, very much together, ‘we are Atikokan and we’re going to make it.’ People like the community and the community is important to them. I’d like to live somewhere where people feel that way about their town.”
She moved to Atikokan with her family in 2005. “One of the reasons we came to Atikokan was the outdoors stuff. I like to camp, hike and canoe. We like it up here. We’d originally planned to go back down south but northwestern Ontario captured our hearts and we couldn’t leave. It has everything we want without all the extra people – and I’m lucky – I can do my job anywhere.”