ATHABASCA/BOYLE - The emergency department at the Boyle Healthcare Centre was closed for three more nights last week due to a lack of physician coverage, but Boyle is far from the only community in Alberta having trouble finding enough doctors, and all healthcare professional staff, to keep facilities operating smoothly.
As such, Alberta Health Services (AHS) is reaching out to residents in communities across the North Zone to talk about partnering on the future recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals with two upcoming virtual meetings on June 24 between noon and 1:30 p.m, and an identical session taking place June 28 from 6:30-8 p.m via Zoom.
“The session aims to create space to listen to your ideas and brainstorm how we can work together to partner both on recruiting and retaining the healthcare professionals we need to provide high quality, safe care in our northern communities,” reads the registration page for the meetings on the AHS website. “We will discuss the current state of recruitment in the North Zone, share information on what AHS recruitment activities are currently underway, and learn about the Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) Attraction and Retention Committees.”
The doctor situation in the Village of Boyle became all too real this month as the emergency room at the local hospital was forced to shutter over the course of several nights and days because there is only one physician in town at the moment. Nurses were on-site at all times, but ambulances were redirected to either Athabasca or Lac La Biche.
It’s something village council has been discussing for the last several months, as the South African doctor that is supposed to replace Dr. Marthinius Doman, was stalled in arriving in the country due to international travel restrictions brought on by COVID-19 and he is in Calgary, waiting to be placed in a three-month preceptorship before he can practice medicine in Canada, and in Boyle.
Healthcare across the Athabasca region was also discussed at a June 15 joint council meeting between the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County, which also included Boyle mayor Colin Derko, who reported back to village council at its regular meeting that evening that the municipal representatives went over some statistics for the immediate region as far as doctor recruitment.
“Athabasca has two vacancies; Boyle has one, which is 50 per cent; Lac La Biche has six vacancies and Smoky Lake has two vacancies. Incoming — we're the only one that has one incoming, the rest of them have zero incoming,” he told councillors.
Twenty years ago, a preceptorship only took two weeks to complete, but now the three-month training is standard to be able to practice in Canada.
“But that's not the issue,” said Derko. “The issue is getting placed in a hurry, because he's ready to start, and if he doesn't get placed for three months, then he's not done for three more months, then it's six months with no doctor.”
He noted the village is working with MLA Glenn van Dijken to ask the College of Physicians and Surgeons to fast track the new doctor’s placement, and the latest update was that he would be able to start training Sept. 1 — two months from now.
In the meantime, Derko said he expecting one other doctor to resume his practice in Boyle after returning to the country this week, and locums will likely take on a fair amount of work themselves.
In Athabasca, there are currently two vacancies for doctors, but that could increase if any others decide it is time to retire in the near future, said mayor Colleen Powell, who provided the numbers to the joint council meeting.
“In the northeastern region there are 53 vacancies and 47 of those are family doctors, and they're having real trouble attracting doctors to the area,” said Powell in a June 18 interview. “We are also looking at the potential retirements of two of our doctors, which means we're going to be down four.”
With so many vacancies, communities need to stand out to prospective healthcare professionals. Powell shared there was one such physician in town last week, getting a sense of the town, the hospital and the region in general, but he was also on his way to McLennan and High Level in the northwest part of the province to do the same thing.
Powell said she will be working to set up a meeting with the local doctors' group sometime in the near future to discuss the situation with the number of healthcare professionals coming to the community overall, but in the meantime, she’ll be attending one of the upcoming AHS meetings on June 24 and June 28 to hear what other communities across the province are doing to attract their own medical personnel.
If you would like to take part you can register for either of the community conversations at: https://together4health.albertahealthservices.ca/communityconversations/news_feed/physician-recruitment-and-retention-in-northern-alberta
