Pakenham

Pakenham is a small village of 2,800 but has recently been integrated into the community of Mississippi Mills which has a population of 12,000.  The village is forty-five minutes away from downtown Ottawa. 

Pakenham offers a number of summer and winter activities which keep the community bustling all year long.  In the winter there is the Pakenham Ski Resort.  There are opportunities for boating along Canada’s Mississippi river which borders the little village.  There are outdoor tennis courts, golf courses, hockey arenas, soccer and baseball pitches.  There are also a number of trails available to hikers and sightseers.  There is a quaint ice cream shop and the Pakenham General Store bakes its renowned homemade bread and cinnamon buns! 

Pakenham currently hosts two doctors who share a small clinic in the village but have active hospital privileges at the Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital.  House calls, nursing home visits, retirement home visits and frequent visits to ER and surgery in Arnprior describe a typical day alongside the physicians in Pakenham.      

Visiting Pakenham as a medical student is a fantastic experience.  The coziness of this small town and the friendly people willing to show off their village make this a great place to taste rural medicine.