01/09/2026
How many doctors do we have?
Including staffing of Long-Term Care, the ER, Acute Care, and the clinic, we currently have 8 with more starting soon. In order of arrival, Doctor B. Kolawole is number 5.
Dr. Bukunmi Kolawole dropped into our lives from Nigeria, and with her arrived Dr. O. Kolawole, her husband, and their two boys. Nigeria’s loss really is our gain. To avoid confusing her with our other Dr. Kolawole, she has come to be known in Lac La Biche as Dr. B.
If asked, she’ll tell you the “B” is for Bukunmi, but there is some truth to the rumours that folks are calling her “B” for "beautiful" because Dr. B’s twinkling eyes, lovely smile, fashion sense, and sociable nature present a beautiful package. Somehow it makes it less frightening and stressful to find oneself at the clinic or Emergency when the doctor is of an affable nature.
Dr. B. received her training at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria. She is not only working out of the Associated Medical Clinic as a family doctor and taking turns in both the ER and Acute Care at the hospital, but she has also accepted the role of “Community Medical Director” at the hospital.
This is an Alberta Health Services (AHS) designation, similar to the idea of chief of staff. She is essentially the site manager who assists with the running of the hospital, overseeing scheduling and all that other fun paperwork and computer work.
Currently, Dr. B. Kolawole has documentation to practice as a family doctor in Alberta and is studying to write another exam, the CFPC, in October to obtain certification in Family Medicine for the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Translated, that means her scope of family practice will be able to extend to anywhere in Canada.
Dr. B. enjoys the variety of her different roles in Lac La Biche and likes the ER, but the one-on-one interaction with patients at the clinic is her favourite as it is less erratic and urgent. The days that are particularly rewarding are when there is a challenging case that she may have read about and is rare, and she is able to unravel the mystery and find solutions.
This affinity for medical trouble shooting may have come from her father. She is the first born of four girls, and their father made sure his girls knew how to assemble and fix things, use tools and trouble shoot.
When Dr. B. Kolawole isn’t troubleshooting or wearing her doctor hat, she relaxes with her family, enjoying movies, board games, music, and dancing. For her, the peace that we all find in quiet down time is a game of solitaire or Subway Surfers. She and her family have been enjoying community events like the Lac La Biche Ice Festival (Festival of Speed), the grand opening of McArthur Park, the Festival of Trees, fireworks, and The Santa Claus parade.
When asked to share a story about experiencing her first winter in Canada, Dr. B. remembers learning the hard way that zero or -2 degrees was significantly different from -30. She thought she would go outside for 2 minutes to clean the windshield – without gloves – because it was only a 2-minute job. After scraping the window clean, she couldn’t feel her fingers and remembers thinking, “Please, just let me feel my fingers again!” Welcome to Canada, Dr. B. This is the land of gloves, toques, wool socks, and boots, but we don’t have snakes, spiders or hurricanes that will kill you.
What Canadian things does Dr. B. want to try now that she knows the importance of gloves? Ice fishing and skating. She and her boys have already tried tobogganing and had a blast. She has noticed that Lac La Biche is a friendly community compared to Calgary where they first arrived, so maybe there is a friendly fisherman out there who might want to get the family out ice fishing.
