“As a family physician, I could work probably anywhere in the world, and I’ve never seriously thought about working anywhere other than Greater Victoria.”
James MacDonald Photography
The Family
Physician
Dr. Sienna Bourdon knows what it’s like to be an Islander. She grew up on Vancouver Island and attended medical school in Victoria at the Island Medical Program before leaving for Ontario to do her residency in family medicine.
“I definitely missed the West Coast, big time,” she says. “It was difficult to be away from the ocean and the mountains, and I knew that I wanted to move back to Greater Victoria to raise my family.”
Today, Dr. Bourdon is the Medical Director and family physician at Shoreline Medical in Brentwood Bay, a seaside community in Greater Victoria. Shoreline is a non-profit charitable organization, one of the first of its kind to involve their community and the Saanich Peninsula Hospital and Healthcare Foundation to transform how care is delivered.
Support to Do
What You Love
Shoreline provides physicians with infrastructure and administrative support in an environment valuing wellness and balance.
“So people can do what they’re good at, do the work they love, and at the end of the day be able to walk away and enjoy this beautiful city we live in.”
Dr. Bourdon says Victoria provides diverse opportunities for family physicians.
“In my professional life, I get to do clinical medicine in a clinic as well as in hospital and in a long-term care facility. I also get to teach through the University of Victoria and UBC residency program. And I’m very involved in leadership and innovation, changing the way we deliver primary care.”
James MacDonald Photography
James MacDonald Photography
“As a family physician, I could work probably anywhere in the world. I've never seriously thought about working anywhere other than Greater Victoria. It feels like home here. It feels like community. It just provides that opportunity to be able to be a human being — and not a human doing.”
