Have you said thank you to your doctor lately?

Today is National Doctor's Appreciation Day and there are plenty of longstanding practitioners in the community to be thankful for.

One of them, Dr. Ana-Maria Oelshig has been working in the community for years, after earning her degree in South Africa, and working in New Zealand, Australia and Slave Lake.

Dr. Oelshig opened a clinic in town when there was only about 12,000 people living here, she now is a family doctor and is the Medical Director at the Foothills Country Hospice. She says there's no place she'd rather be.

"I really and truly believe that I am where I need to be, I love being a family doctor," she says. "I think working at the hospice has brought it full circle for me. I am 100% sure I am where I am supposed to be."

She says the rural doctors in Okotoks are incredible.

"In this town we are very lucky to have a bunch of doctors that honestly care about the community, you can see that anywhere you go. When you ask people to step up, and help, they do. It's been amazing to see this town grow."

Dr. Oelshig says that today is a good reminder that doctors are always in their patients corner.

"For people just to think about what their doctors done for them, because we play a big part, and as a rural doctor I think we play a big family part. We love it and that's why we do it. I believe there should be a dentist day and a lawyer day, even if you just wake up and think 'I'm pretty lucky I've got somebody on my side.' It's good to have somebody like that around."

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