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Athabasca physician recruitment drive in full swing

Athabasca’s Physician Recruitment Committee is continuing its good work, having played host to two recent visits from doctors to the Town of Athabasca.

Athabasca’s Physician Recruitment Committee is continuing its good work, having played host to two recent visits from doctors to the Town of Athabasca.

“The thing about communities and making them work is that without a hospital, without doctors, there really is no community,” said vice-chair of the committee and Athabasca County Councillor Mike Demko. “With the oil boom we need to provide essential services to a greater number of people and having the ability to do so attracts more people to the community to live and help the community become a better place overall.”

Quite a few positive things have been happening in the recent months in terms of new doctor recruitment and retention and a new doctor will be joining the health services in the area, hopefully in the next six months, according to Demko. He noted that in the last two months alone the committee has had two different doctors come and check out the area, most recently Dr. Collette Mackenzie, who hails from South Africa.

Demko expects Mackenzie to be here with her family in the next nine months or so, but the doctor coming sooner will be Dr. Ahmed Elfoghhi from Libya, who visited the area back in May.

“It’s all been quite exciting and we hope to welcome a new doctor to the community soon,” Demko said.

“Both the doctors who visited seem quite impressed with the area and the facilities that we have here. Dr. Elfoghhi came here for a visit with his wife and young child and they have been living in Saskatchewan for the past little while and trying to get into the system in Canada and they were very happy with the Multiplex. Dr. Mackenzie seems really quite excited about the whole visit and very sweet and nice. It’ll be good to have another female doctor in the area for the women who might be more comfortable with that. We can’t wait to have them all here.”

Demko noted that he would like to see the community welcome them when they arrive.

“We are going to be so lucky to get these new doctors coming into the community because other communities are trying to scoop them up, but we are happy they see Athabasca as a place to call home and raise their families in” Demko said.

“It would be nice for more people to stop and say hi to the doctors because we are so fortunate to have them and they are young, eager, and fantastic people. I’d love to see people stop and thank the doctors for being a part of the community and welcoming them because until you need them you don’t realize how important they are.”

Having new doctors potentially means reduced wait times in the emergency room at the hospital as well as more access on a regular basis for residents in Athabasca and surrounding areas.

“This is a big thing for the community and it definitely means a strong possibility of shortened wait times down the road, but our community is growing and as it grows, the number of potential patients grows too, especially in the summer with the Summer Villages,” Demko said.

“Right now having more doctors come into the community is great, but as other doctors retire or the community grows and more doctors are needed in general, that’s what we are here for, to help fulfill the needs in the community.”

Demko said the committee tries to showcase the best of Athabasca to potential new doctors and that means getting others involved in the tours. Just two years ago, both Athabasca County and the Town had to front a lot of the costs in bringing new doctors out here to see the area, but in recent years, Demko said he’s been very thankful for the support from Alberta Health Services who have stepped up to assist with the greater portion of the costs, which goes a long way.

Additionally, the committee has gotten involved with a bursary program to also bring in doctors from Canada as well.

“As a community, a lot of people and organizations have donated money to give Canadian doctors an opportunity to come out as well who might want to work in smaller towns,” Demko said. “It’s been a really successful program and thank God for fantastic community involvement, especially with doctors already in the community. It’s just been a very successful operation so far and a lot of people in the community seem to be on board to make the whole area and way of life better here.”

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