More than 142,000 Nova Scotians — over 14 per cent of the population — are on a waitlist for a family doctor in the province as of Sept. 1. The majority are like deForest and McLennan — "new to the area." 

Dalhousie Medical School has started the massive job of lengthening its residency program for family physicians, and is trying to do so without interrupting delivery of new doctors to the province’s strained medical system.