Aikens lake competed Thursday night in the “Concours du Meilleur”. The winner of the tournament is bestowed the title of “The best Voyageur”. The meet is part of Winnipeg’s “Festival du Voyageur”. It pits contestants in traditional events necessitating a mix of balance, wit, speed and brawn.
The preliminary choosing of Aikens’ contingent was done at the lake last August. Guide David Smith and our Sales Manager Patrick Trudel won first and second place. Pat however did not compete in the games in Winnipeg (Patrick is in Dallas with Pit for a sportshow). Bruno Maynard took Pat’s place. This year we had a surprise entry to keep the guys on their toes….Chef Elise decided to throw her hat in the ring. At first we suspect she did it just for fun, but everyone quickly learned she was the one to watch! So we decided that instead of a two man team, we would enter a two man, one woman team in the games. They worked valiantly to bring a win back to the lake. Needless to say, the Aikens fans formed a large contingent of supporters as our team squared off in the hopes of taking home the prestigious title.
The guys managed to win a few bouts here and there in the men’s competition, but in the end, they finished just out of the finals cut. Chef Elise was very nervous when the women’s competition started, but she gained her confidence as she won more and more matches. She even got to the women’s finals of the tug of war and won the finals of the wood sawing. Her time even beat some of the men competitors times. Chef Elise won second place for the evening which gets her in the finals on Saturday afternoon for the women’s competition. We encourage anyone who is available to go cheer her on at the Club St. B! Go Chef Elise!!!
Congrats to all our competitors and thank you to the Aikens family for coming out and cheering on their team! The Festival du Voyageur is a great time to soften the winter blues and to revel in the “Joie de Vivre”. If ever you’re in Winnipeg in mid February, be sure to check it out. You’ll surely run into some Aikens folks who will be glad to share their cheer and their Caribou with you!
For the fourth consecutive year, Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge is helping children in need have their dream’s come true. We’ve donated a three day trip to our world-class lodge to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The Children’s Wish Gala is happening tonight in Winnipeg and is proud to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary! The event will be held at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel - (350 St. Mary Avenue). Named the Shiver Ball Gala (Children’s Wish Foundation), the cocktails and fun casino start at 6pm, followed by dinner at 7pm, and ending with the pièce de résistance; the live and silent auctions!
Aikens has been a highly sought-after prize in past auctions and we hope to fetch a good price to help out as many little friends dreams come true. They’re courage and smiles and the CWF’s efforts make this partnership one we are extremely proud to be a part of. Have a great evening at the gala and we’ll see the highest bidder at the Lodge!
Patrick & Pit will be in Minneapolis this weekend for the All-Canada Show. Although its our first time attending this show as exhibitors, this well-established circuit features the very best in Outdoor Canadian experience. Only fitting that Aikens joins the fray! The show runs from Friday to Sunday at the downtown Convention Centre. If you’d like to visit, please don’t hesitate to call toll-free for complementary passes at 1-800-565-2595 or email fishing@aikenslake.com. If we don’t have a chance to cross paths this time around, not to worry, we’ll also be at the Northwest Show March 24-28. Hope to see you there!
Here is an article set to appear in several industry magazines. Remember, if you are a health care professional and you are required to complete a certain amount of Continuing Medical Education credit hours every year, why not do some of that at Aikens Lake! During the week of Aug 30 to Sept 3, we will be offering a course entitled “Physician Resilience”. Call us for details!
CME Magazine Advertorial
Nat Silverman
Jan. 29, 2009
Fabulous Fishing Forays for Physicians
Give New Meaning to ‘Healing Waters’
Travel Manitoba’s Continuing Medical Education Initiative
Combines Exhilarating Expeditions to Premium Fly-In Lodges
with Fully-Accredited Program on Work-Life Balance
Physicians with a passion for sport-fishing can land phenomenal trophy fish, refresh their spirits, and reel in continuing medical education hours in Manitoba this summer.
A new program organized and sponsored by Travel Manitoba combines exhilarating airborne expeditions to deluxe lakefront lodges in the province’s vast pristine wilderness — a land of boreal forest, taiga, and tundra — with a fully accredited CME course administered by the medical faculty of the University of Manitoba.
The new “Hook and Learn” series is collaboration among Travel Manitoba, the university, and a consortium of Manitoba premium fishing lodges.
Organizers have planned what looks to be an ideal theme for a CME program conducted in a sportsmen’s paradise: spectacular lake-rich settings hundreds of miles from any population center — a match made in outdoors heaven.
The inaugural CME program is “Physician Resilience.” It provides 15 hours of accredited continuing education over five days, utilizing a combination of case-based small group learning and seminars. Participants will explore topics such as “transitions,” stress and burnout, strategies for improving work-life balance, and improving communications with patients, colleagues, and staff.
The program is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.This program also meets the accreditation criteria for a maximum of 12.5 Category 1 credits toward the American Medical Association Physician’s Recognition Award.
“Physician’s Resilience” will be offered July 11–15 at Nueltin Fly-In Lodges main lodge and August 30–September 3 at Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge.Others planning to offer the program, on dates to be announced, are Big Sand Lake Lodge, Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge, Laurie River Lodge, and Webber’s Lodges.
Participants pay for their lodge stay, which includes all meals and round-trip transportation between Winnipeg and the lodge, with package prices starting at around $2,500. Travel Manitoba subsidizes the entire cost of the education program. Book your stay directly with the participating lodge, then register for the CME program through the University of Manitoba.
“Physician-anglers can accumulate continuing education hours and still get their fishing done,” says one lodge owner.
Trophy species in Manitoba include, most famously, northern pike – dubbed “Manitoba Monsters” — lake trout, walleye, channel catfish and in the subarctic reaches of the province, the exotic arctic grayling, evocatively known as the “sailfish of the north.”
Some people have childhood memories of fishing at family-style “north woods” resorts and campgrounds. But going to a premium full-service that focuses on angling — and on creating a high-quality 360-degree experience around it — is a fish of different color.
“This isn’t your father’s — or grandfather’s — old fishing camp,” says a Travel Manitoba representative.
“It’s a five-star angling experience at wilderness resort,” says one lodge operator.
The trip feels like an expedition, even with all the creature comforts. Typically you’ll fly from Winnipeg international airport on a charter flight to a distant private landing strip. Then you board a float plane for the last leg of the trip to your lodge.
Operators say the isolation and remoteness of the setting, the profusion of trophy-size fish, and the frequency of catches, combined with the amenities and services of a premium lodge and its attentive staff, create a sense of “heightened reality – or unreality” that amazes and delights new and returning guests.
Lodge guests greet the day with fresh coffee and a made-to-order breakfast. “And every time your fishing boat leaves the dock, you’re setting out for parts unknown,” says a lodge owner.
After a morning on the water, your fishing guide cooks a fresh shore lunch on the lodge’s own private beach.
At least one lodge boasts a complimentary, self-service bar stocked with premium brands that’s available for several hours each evening. Wireless broadband Internet access, via satellite, has also become a standard feature.
Lodge representatives talk about “the quality of the companionship” you find during a stay. The properties attract successful professionals, entertainment world celebrities, and heads of some of the world’s largest businesses — though lodges are reluctant to drop names out of respect for their customers’ privacy.
“We have well-traveled guests who run into each other in far-flung parts of the world,” says one lodge owner. “Lifelong friendships are made here.”
Representatives of Manitoba’s outdoors industry say the experience appeals to successful professionals and leaders in all fields because they are achievement oriented: catching trophy fish is a “win” that anglers finds immensely satisfying.
“Some of the best fishermen I’ve met are creative problem solvers,” says Shawn Gurke, proprietor of Nueltin Fly-In Lodges. “You have smart, ambitious people in the boat, figuring things out.These are not the guys standing on the beach fishing with a bobber and hook.”
For physicians, a CME program at a premium Manitoba lodge offers an unusual social setting because guests have something in common besides their medical careers – a serious interest in big game fish. It’s a fraternity of anglers.
The benefits of fishing — relaxation, communing with nature, camaraderie, and the exhilaration of landing impressive fish — are widely recognized.
The 17th-century Englishman Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, wrote, “You will find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings attending upon it.”
Throughout North America, nonprofit volunteer service organizations take wounded military veterans, cancer survivors, and others on fishing retreats to the healing waters of the “great outdoors” for the restorative physical and emotional benefits.
Organizers of Travel Manitoba’s lodge-based CME program say they’ve set out to design “a healing experience for the healers.”
Neultin’s Gurke says, “I’ve had guests whose wives and secretaries called us afterwards to comment on how we were good therapy for their husbands or bosses. It really is a therapeutic experience for them. I’m pretty proud of that.”
“The quality of the angling is a concentrated dose of medicine in itself,” says one lodge operator whose ancestors include Canadian First Nation’s people who have lived – and fished – in this region since time immemorial.
“You only get so many hours on the water in a year or a lifetime,” he says, “and this is a way of making the most of that time.”
For further information about CME lodge accommodations and arrangements, contact Shawn Gurke, Nueltin Fly-In Lodges, 204.767.2330; Patrick Trudel, Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge, (204) 228-7053; or Kevin Palmer, Travel Manitoba, (204) 927-7820, kpalmer@tbaytel.net. For details about the CME program’s content and registration information, contact the University of Manitoba’s Office of Continuing Medial Education, (204) 789-3660, cme@cc.umanitoba.ca.
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