Heath care recruiters are asking Wellington North council for $10,000 in 2018.
Suzanne Trivers, executive director of the Mount Forest Family Health Team, and Alison Armstrong, health care recruiter in North Wellington Health Care, appeared before council on Nov. 20 to provide an update on their 2017 efforts and to seek funding for next year.
“This past year, we’ve been able to successfully market Wellington North as a place to live and work,” said Trivers.
She added there is one physician interested in retiring and the recruitment committee has found a replacement.
“We have in writing that this individual is willing to come. However, they are leaving another community, so we will not be announcing until that announcement hass been made,” she said.
Mayor Andy Lennox asked if one doctor would be enough to replace the retiring one.
“When we have an experienced doctor who chooses to retire, they’re often very efficient at managing their patient load. Do we have the capacity to bring on additional doctors to help fulfill that demand?” he asked.
Trivers explained the new physician comes from a similar situation and workload.
“We did have that discussion this time around about whether or not we would do a two-for-one – a lot of communities do,” she said.
“This particular individual has a lot of experience and has been operating in a town about the same size and the same breadth of work.”
There are three individuals from Arthur and seven from Mount Forest that are on the Health Care Connect waiting list, but Trivers said there could be more not on that list.
Armstrong added the Louise Marshall Hospital has been busy over the summer.
“Normally it’s quiet, but it has been non-stop … I think the complexity of the cases as people age, it’s becoming more and more challenging,” she said.
“Keep in mind, our rural (doctors) aren’t just physicians that sit in offices, they also look after in-patients, (emergency rooms), deliver babies and assist in surgery and look after long-term care homes and their jobs go on and on and on.”
Lennox said health care is important to Wellington North citizens.
“Certainly, physician recruitment is something that’s near and dear to our residents,” he said.
“They often bring the issue up with a fair bit of passion and justifiably so.
“Hopefully you can overcome the challenges as we go forward.”
Council did not make a decision on the $10,000 request, but CAO Mike Givens said it would be part of the 2018 budget discussions.
