Mapleton council recently approved what has become an annual $10,000 contribution in support of the efforts of the Minto-Mapleton Health Care Professional Recruitment Committee.
It’s clearly money well spent.
Shirley Borges and North Wellington Health Care recruiter Alison Armstrong told council at the Jan. 13 meeting the committee was successful in recruiting Dr. Phillip Deacon to replace now-retired physician Dr. Chris Donald.
Committee chair Shirley Borges noted that combined with the earlier recruitment 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 moved to another community.
“Those were very big shoes to fill,” she commented.
Big shoes indeed. At one point during Donald’s lengthy tenure about 7,500 patients were registered with the clinic, served then by three physicians, a situation that resulted in a feature article in the Toronto Star on the challenges faced by rural Ontario physicians in an emerging doctor shortage in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Today, the area is served by the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team (FHT) which consists of a group of health professionals working together with eight primary care physicians and four nurse practitioners who have a combined roster of about 15,000 patients. Headquartered in Drayton, the FHT also has offices in Palmerston, Clifford and Harriston to service the Minto and Mapleton communities.
Much of this progress can be attributed to the work of the recruitment committee, which strives to showcase this area to physicians and other health care professionals. In that respect, community members can also take credit. Dr. Christine Peterkin, who moved to Mapleton 11 years ago from Montreal, told council the recruiting committee’s efforts and the community’s response are what brought her here.
“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,” she said. “It made me realize this is a community that is extremely invested in the future of their health care,” she explained.
Likewise, Dr. Deacon came to the area for a site visit in 2013 and was so impressed with the health care staff and community that he chose to work here.
Health care recruitment is an ongoing job as recruiters hustle to keep up with the need to attract professionals to deal with a growing community, as well as replace those who retire or move on. As Borges pointed out, the physicians they attract support local economic development efforts and hospitals.
Mapleton and Minto residents are fortunate to have an enterprising group of volunteers working on their behalf in these important endeavours and local councils that have wisely chosen to support that work.
Patrick Raftis
