The Community Physician Recruitment and Retention committee spoke to city council about funding promotional materials to recruit new doctors to the community at the May 13 city council meeting. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Doctor Recruit

City to help fund advertising for doctor recruitment committee

May 14, 2019 | 5:00 PM

In a closed meeting following the city council meeting on May 13, Mayor Merlin Seymour said council had agreed to provide the Community Physician Recruitment and Retention committee with funds for advertising and promotional items.

“We have allotted $2,000 towards the video and promotional items that can be taken to trade fairs to attract and hopefully retain the doctors and practical nurses as well,” said Mayor Seymour.

Two members of the committee spoke with city council at the meeting to help fund promotional materials to recruit doctors and nurses to Meadow Lake.

Bailey Edelman from the Community Physician Recruitment and Retention committee asked the city to help fund promotional materials which they can use to recruit physicians while at trade shows and conferences.

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Edelman said she will be going to a family resident retreat in September to promote Meadow Lake. “It’s a family medicine retreat geared to family medicine residents,” said Edelman. “At this retreat they can see what other job opportunities are out there. There are different communities that often send some of their own family physicians and admins as representatives to promote and speak about their clinics or their hospitals as well.”

The Community Physician Recruitment and Retention committee is made of community volunteers who are concerned about the doctor shortage in Meadow Lake. Six physicians and two nurse practitioners will be leaving or retiring from Meadow Lake hospital and clinic by Sept. 3.

The committee had previously asked the city to hire a part time position to help recruit doctors to Meadow Lake but was denied because the council said the Chamber of Commerce is responsible for tourism and economic development.

On May 6, the committee held their own meeting to discuss the recruitment of new doctors to the area and how they can promote Meadow Lake to other physicians. Edelman said 17 people from Meadow Lake and the RM were in attendance including Councillor Kim Chiverton.

“We didn’t have all the information previous,” said Mayor Seymour. “One of our councillors went to that meeting a week ago and brought that information back to us. And we actually made a motion to support [the committee] with promotional videos, et cetera.”

The committee will be looking into recruiting surgeons and anesthesiologists, as well as general family practitioners. The hospital delivered 198 babies in the last year and without qualified surgeons and anesthesiologists, that number would decrease significantly, as the services provided in order to deliver as many babies would be affected greatly.

Councillor Kim Chiverton brought up a concern during the meeting of recruiting the right physicians. Coun. Chiverton said there is a niche set of doctors who would be interested in a position in Meadow Lake and other rural positions.

Edelman reassured Coun. Chiverton that there is still interest for doctors to work in Meadow Lake and rural communities. In the council meeting, Edelman pointed out while Meadow Lake does not have an official residency program it is considered a learning site which is beneficial to young doctors and nurses.

“We have first and second year resident physicians, as well as a great number of medical students in their earlier years who come through our site,” Edelman explained in a further interview with meadowlakeNOW. “Their presence in our clinic and hospital is really valuable to Meadow Lake because they often see the patients in addition to those that our family physicians are.”

Edelman said with having more students and residents they can see more patients in the clinic and are able to make appointments at shorter notice. “However, without an appropriate number of physicians, the amount of learners that our community can take will also be affected,” said Edelman. “Many of the learners who have come to Meadow Lake in the early years of Medical school have often returned to Meadow Lake as resident physicians later on. This is encouraging to know that they enjoyed their time here enough to return, and so that has presented a great opportunity for us to plant a seed for recruitment to them as well”.

The committee is also sending out an exit surveys to staff who have left Meadow Lake hospital to help understand why the physicians decided to leave.

“We are sending it out to physicians who have left in the last 10 years and the physicians who are also leaving have just received it,” said Edelman.

Edelman also expressed while the Physician Recruitment and Retention committee began as a way of retaining doctors and nurses it could grow beyond its original purpose. Edelman said the committee could be used to retain young couples, people who work at mills and business owners to Meadow Lake.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov