By Kellah Lavoie

Local reporter wins national award

Sep 21, 2011 | 9:50 AM

A local reporter is getting some big recognition.

paNOW’s Angela Hill is receiving the Excellence in Local Print Reporting award by the Canadian Medical Association. It is for her series, “Is there a doctor in the house?” that ran in the Prince Albert Daily Herald in September of last year.

The national awards by the association are for work in health reporting, this particular one is for reporters who are part of publications that goes out to people, less than 30,000.

The winning article discusses physician recruitment and doctor shortages across Saskatchewan.

“Through that, I was trying to help everyone … see what the current situation was,” Hill said.

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She spoke with new doctors, doctors from abroad, medical students, rural communities and the college of physicians and surgeons, trying to get as many different points of view as possible.

“I just felt that there is a certain amount of animosity – certain communities get (physicians), others don’t. Why do they want to go to the big cities, why don’t they want to stay in rural Saskatchewan,” she said.

Working in Prince Albert as a health reporter for a couple of years, it was a topic she’s heard often. Hill said she wanted to let people know what is actually going on and getting them on the same page and working towards the same goal, through her stories.

Hill found out about the award last week, but she had to keep it quiet for a little while.

“It feels really good. I love the topic of health care, it is my passion. It is what I am interested in, so to receive recognition for doing what I love, it is pretty cool, it is really cool,” she said.

It’s not the first time she has taken the prestigious award home. She also won last year for her series on HIV and AIDS in Saskatchewan.

Hill receives the award on Oct. 20 on Ottawa. She will be with the likes of reporters from the Globe and Mail, MacLean’s and CBC.

“I’m in pretty good company and that’s really cool,” she said with a smile.

There is one take-home message Hill has when it’s all said and done.

“(When it comes to rural physician recruitment) what people really need is patience, there is a lot to the issues, people need to trust and believe that everyone has everyone’s best interest at heart,” she said.

klavoie@panow.com