Doctor recruitment in Sauble and Wiarton has gone well the last few years, but a few more physicians are needed.
Sauble and Wiarton MD Quest representatives Cory Dobbin and Sandra Clarke made a presentation this week to South Bruce Peninsula Council updating them on the recruitment team’s efforts.
In terms of recruitment in the last couple of years, the South Bruce Peninsula Family Health Organization has welcomed Dr Farhoud (family and emergency department) and Dr Hanley (Gateway Haven) in the past two years and the Sauble Family Health Team added Dr. Kate Stead and Dr Mylash Mylvaganam.
Cory Dobbin told council, “We are not at full complement at this point, so we are continuing to recruit.”
He explained, “About 2,500 in our community are still without physicians, primary care access, which means they are putting an additional burden on our emergency department because that’s where they are going for basic needs, as well as prescription refills and stuff like that,” says Dobbin.
Dobbin added, “We are fortunate right now in our community that the Wiarton emergency has not experienced a shutdown like many in our area.” Dobbin attributes that to the dedicated staff, nurses and physicians working locally, supported by their visiting doctor program.
“We do have fantastic teams in our community that are keeping our health services healthy and strong, ” said Dobbin.
He noted they need more physicians and nurse practitioners in Sauble, adding, “In Wiarton ideally, we are looking for another two physicians and we would say probably another one to two in Sauble as well.”
Dobbin told council, the doctor’s offices in Wiarton could use renovation, as younger physicians may feel they layout is outdated. He says they were built in 1994 and are made up of four isolated offices– something new doctors, and doctors from large urban centres are not used to.
“There are a lot of redundancies. It means the physicians as well as the admin staff don’t have those water cooler conversations because they are isolated in their individual offices,” says Dobbin who told council that ideally, they’d create a more open, family health team style office.”
He says they’ve approached Brightshores Health System about the desire for renovations, and explains, “At this time, it’s not looking like we’re going to be able to do anything with the physical layout of the space,” but adds the recruitment team is trying to put forward solutions, and is looking for partners to help make that happen.
He says the committee continues to support local physicians, noting the working relationships of local physicians is their biggest recruiting tool . “Our physicians work well together. They care genuinely about the healthcare in our community.”
He says, “We get very positive feedback from physicians that are visiting here, even if it’s just to work a short shift in the ER.”
He adds, the recruitment team also shows potential doctors and their families all the community has to offer, even taking a physician on a tour of the community as recently as this past weekend.