Council here has agreed to provide a $10,000 contribution to the Minto Mapleton Health Care Professional Recruitment Committee.
Council agreed to provide the contribution, the same amount it has provided for the past several years, at the Jan. 13 meeting, following an update from recruitment committee officials.
In their report to council, chair Shirley Borges and North Wellington Health Care recruiter Alison Armstrong noted the committee was successful in recruiting Dr. Phillip Deacon. He will replace retiring physician Dr. Chris Donald.
“Dr. Deacon is a welcome addition to the communities of Minto-Mapleton, providing primary care as well as hospital support in the form of emergency room, in-patient, obstetrical and surgical assist care,” the report states.
Borges told council that combined with the earlier addition of Dr. Hao Sun, Deacon’s addition allows the local health team to cover all the patients formerly served by Donald, who retired after 40 years of service locally, and by Dr. Michael Cam, who left to work in another community.
“Those were very big shoes to fill,” she commented.
Borges told council,“I think it’s really important that you are interested in recruitment,” adding that successful recruitment also supports local economic development. The health care professionals that move to the area not only support the local primary care office, they also support the local hospital, she explained.
“Without them we wouldn’t have a hospital,” said Borges.
The report notes past financial assistance from the township has helped the committee to successfully market and promote the community “as an excellent place to live, learn and practice health care.”
“The reason we are so successful is the funds you provide so we are able to do what we do,” said Armstrong.
Dr. Christine Peterkin, who moved to Mapleton 11 years ago from Montreal, told council the recruiting committee’s efforts are what brought her to the community.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. They actually flew us out here from Montreal, set up a meet and greet … it was amazing,” said Peterkin.
“It made me realize this is a community that is extremely invested in the future of their health care … I think that experience really spoke volumes about my decision to come here.”
However, the report also notes the community also recently lost a nurse practitioner, who moved to Kitchener.
“While we offer a wonderful community in which to work and live, three of our four nurse practitioners reside outside our community and commute to work several kilometres each day,” the report states.
“Better compensation and benefit packages offered in adjacent urban centres, including hospitals, community care access centres and long-term care homes, are putting increased pressure on our local FHTs to retain these skilled nurse practitioners in our rural communities.”
In addition to requesting a financial contribution, the group also urged Mapleton council to appoint a council representative to the committee.
Borges noted former county councillor John Green remains on the committee as a community member, but suggested a direct council representative would be beneficial.
Mayor Neil Driscoll said the presentation was helpful and allowed council to see how its contributions are used.
“We constantly wonder, when you put your money into things like economic development, do you see a return,” said Driscoll. “And this is one of those cases where you see a return, and it turns into economic development too.”
