Recruitment efforts, facilities help bring health care professionals to Minto area

Council here will consider a request for a $10,000 contribution to local health care professional recruitment in its 2016 budget deliberations.

A request for the annual contribution was made at the Jan. 5 council meeting by Minto-Mapleton Health Care Professional Recruitment Committee chair Shirley Borges and North Wellington Health Care recruiter Allison Armstrong.

Borges said the committee is “really fortunate to have Minto representation at our meetings,” and noted having a town representative helps with continuity.

She pointed out economic development staff from both Minto and Mapleton have been meeting with potential recruits to provide information on what the local area offers.

Borges said about 10 medical residents spent time, from two weeks to two months, in the local area in 2015, providing “a good opportunity to show our community and hopefully recruit.”

She noted Dr. Christopher Cressey in Minto and Dr. Christine Peterkin in  Mapleton regularly work with residents.

“We’ve have them around the calendar now – that’s a huge endeavour for us,” said Borges.

The local committee was also able to recruit a resident to help out with the on-call schedule at the Palmerston and District Hospital.

“He comes in when needed and helps out,” she explained.

The committee was also able to find locums to fill in for a maternity leave and an extended vacation.

Though the community recently lost two nurse practitioners, Borges said, “Luckily, because we spend time mentoring nurse practitioner students, in Minto-Mapleton, we were able to recruit.”

“I feel now that we’re on more stable ground and we will continue to attract and recruit nurse practitioners both in terms of student as well as professionals to our area.”

Borges pointed out Ontario physicians have been battling with the province over cuts to health care funding, including reduction of fees for physicians that could adversely impact patient care and discourage physicians from setting up practices in Ontario.

Borges also noted local physicians have voiced concern with a New Graduate Entry Program (NGEP) launched by the government in September. Physicians are worried the  program will “create an entire generation of family physicians who are not comfortable or experienced working in hospitals (an important component of rural medicine),” she stated in a written report to council.

Armstrong said local physicians have been vocal in telling the province the new program doesn’t work for rural areas.

“The rural physicians have really come together with this,” said Armstrong. “They’re getting word out. It’s starting to spread and ripple out there.”

She added, “I do think we’re starting to see some movement toward change and not allowing this to happen.”

Mayor George Bridge suggested the municipality could send a letter to the health ministry support the local physicians’ position.

“Without our rural hospital, without our health care, we cannot grow economic development-wise and we cannot grow our tax base … it’s such a key cog development wise,” the mayor stated.

Borges said local recruitment efforts and development of health care facilities has put the Minto-Mapleton area in a good position going forward.

“It’s been a long haul getting there. We’ve been coming here for a long time and when we first started it was working pretty bleak,” said Borges.

“We will have a new centre (The Minto Rural Health Centre in Palmerston) – we had nowhere to put new physicians – and we will surround them in a team-based environment and it will be close to our hospital. So I feel confident that, in terms of this part of the province, we will fare okay. I cannot speak for the rest of the rural areas or the more remote areas that I feel will struggle if they haven’t done their homework.

“So we thank the council for supporting us over the many years and our work’s not done yet – but we at least have the groundwork to provide a good foundation.”

 

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