Health professional recruitment committee requests $10,000 from council

MINTO – Health care recruiters Shirley Borges and Alison Armstrong delegated to Minto council in hopes of receiving $10,000 for further recruitment initiatives.

Borges, chair of Mapleton-Minto Health Professional Recruitment Committee and Armstrong, North Wellington Health Care recruiter, presented an update on March 3 on current recruitment and retention strategies.

“Trying to attract family doctors to commit to practices in communities is still a big challenge right now and I’m happy to say in our area we are in a good position,” Armstrong told council. “We’ve been able to attach patients to primary care providers which is amazing in our rural communities.”

In spring 2024, the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team was awarded funding from the province to expand the existing Clifford site by one nurse practitioner and to create a new Harriston site at the Lions Medical Centre. Almost two years later, both the Clifford and Harriston sites have welcomed over 1,600 new patients. 

“The expansion initiative has now received permanent base funding from the government,” Borges said.

The family health team also welcomed trained physician, Dr. Narah Luzinga in December 2024 through the Practice Ready Ontario (PRO) program.

PRO offers a pathway for internationally trained physicians to transition into communities.

Luzinga has been working out of the Minto Rural Health Centre in Palmerston and has approximately 1,000 new patients signed up with her practice. 

“This program has been a successful way for our rural communities to attract new physicians,” Borges explained. “It’s not open to our urban counterparts and we feel fortunate in that regard.”

Other efforts include attending medical school career fairs to introduce future  graduates to careers in a rural community.

Borges and Armstrong are both members in the Ontario Physician Recruitment Alliance, a not-for-profit organization leading the coordination of physician recruitment in Ontario.

“It’s rural community recruiters like myself that band together to market Ontario,” Armstrong said. 

“Together we contribute to ensure we’re getting out to all the recruitment fairs we can.”

“We’ve started looking into marketing more in the United States. Not to get U.S. people to come here but to get our Canadians back home,” Armstrong said. 

“We have a lot of Canadians training right now in the U.S. and with recent changes if you’re American board certified you can come home no problem.”

Council comments

“Do you have any data on how many patients are still unconnected to a health care provider in the region?” deputy mayor Jean Anderson asked.

Borges replied, “The data is always a moving target but ... we have been directed to clear the health care connect list as of last January and we have done that in our Minto-Mapleton area. 

“Some of our other areas like Upper Grand [and] Centre Wellington are not as fortunate as we are for attracting physicians.”

Councillor Ron Elliott expressed gratitude for the delegates, stating, “You’re worth every dollar we put out for you.”

Armstrong said, “Thank you, because not all municipalities are so supportive ... without you we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.” 

The request for $10,000 to help secure health care providers and continue awareness efforts was received for information.