Growing up in Barrington, a rural lobster fishing community in southwest Nova Scotia, becoming a family doctor wasn’t on the radar for a young Robyn Pierce.

Becoming a veterinarian seemed the more likely choice.

“I grew up taking care of animals and wanted to be a vet for the longest time,” recalls Dr. Pierce, who now practises family medicine in the community. “My parents were pretty supportive. We’d see an ad at the grocery store for a goat for sale, and I’d say, ‘Can we go get it?’ And they’d say, ‘Sure.’”

Her perspective shifted, however, when her cousin fell ill with cancer. “It really motivated me to go into medicine – seeing how many people needed a doctor and the struggle we have to retain physicians in a rural area.”

“I was actually the first woman from Barrington to graduate from medical school and become a doctor,” said Dr. Pierce, who has practised in the community since 2019. “I’m hoping that more people will do so.”

She said loves the relationships that come from being a family doctor in a rural area. “I love how close you get to your patients – you’ll be following them for their entire life. When I started, I had a lot of babies in my practice – some of whom I delivered – and now they are turning five and six years old. It’s heartwarming to watch them grow.”

After completing her undergraduate degree in biology at Acadia University in Wolfville, Dr. Pierce studied medicine at the Saba University School of Medicine in the Caribbean. “I saw things I don’t think I would have ever seen if I’d stayed in Nova Scotia or even Canada for medical school.”

As part of their training, Saba medical students do clerkships in the United States to get hands-on training in different specialities and settings.

“I did rotations in Brooklyn, New York, and Homa, Louisiana, so I had the chance to see wild things,” recalled Dr. Pierce. “In Homa, people would come in with alligator bites or snake bites, and in Brooklyn, I saw babies with congenital rubella syndrome or tetanus, things that you’re going to see because of the larger population size.”

It was a diverse, exciting way to learn. “We worked with technologies that had been in the States for a while, like robotic surgery,” she said.

While at med school, Dr. Pierce also connected with family physicians from her local community, and did rotations with Drs. Kenny Yee and Noel Baker back in Barrington Passage. “These experiences helped solidify my goal of coming back home,” she said.

Staff at the Municipality of Barrington also stayed in touch with Dr. Pierce throughout her medical education, including her family medicine residency training at Queen’s University in Ontario.

“They were so supportive,” Dr. Pierce said. “When I finished residency in 2019, they helped me find and set up my office, and supplied all of my equipment. I knew I’d need a lot of things for some of the health care I provide, including IUD insertions, subdermal contraceptive implant insertions and endometrial biopsies.”

Having that equipment means she can provide the health care her patients need, faster. “Sometimes patients would be waiting a long time to see a gynecologist for this. It’s been a good thing to offer in the community.”

Her patients also benefit from her enthusiasm and willingness to learn new skills. “I try to manage as much as I can myself because I don’t want my patients to have to travel. I use things like Virtual Hallway – where I can connect to a specialist colleague for advice. I’m able to manage quite a bit out of my family practice and I really like that – it adds spice to my practice because I’m doing more hands-on things.”

Dr. Pierce also provides house calls and is a lifeline for people who can’t visit her office for checkups. “I have patients who had never had a family doctor before or haven’t had one in years,” she said.

Always up for a challenge, she never knows what she’ll encounter during a house call: removing staples from a recent surgery, excising a squamous-cell skin cancer from a patient’s face and even dealing with a blocked ostomy. “This patient refused to go to the hospital, so I was on the phone with a general surgeon in the middle of nowhere, with no service on my phone, trying to figure out how to manage that.”

These home visits provide amazing learning experiences for the medical students and residents who often join her on her rounds. “They see patients who have really interesting and complicated things going on,” said Dr. Pierce, who is a primary preceptor with the Southwest Nova residency program. “I think it’s helpful for their learning and I hope it motivates them to practise rural medicine.”

Dr. Pierce said that having more physicians in her community would not only improve care for patients, but also mean better support for local providers.

In September 2024, Dr. Pierce took 14-week parental leave to care for her newborn son (she and her husband also have a three-year old daughter). Residents who had trained at her practice filled in for her, providing continuity of care to her patients.

“I think it says something that three residents who trained with me actually wanted to come back and locum for me during my leave.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Pierce is excited by the Municipality of Barrington’s plans to create a collaborative clinic in the community, similar to the medical centre in Clare. “This would be huge for physician recruitment for our area.”

In the meantime, she is focused on deepening her relationships with her patients. “That’s the beauty of family medicine – you get to follow your patients and keep bringing them back and getting to know them better. When they trust you, they’re more likely to follow the plans that you come up with together. The trust is the most important thing.”