With recent visits from two doctors to the Town of Athabasca, the Physician Recruitment Committee is doing their job and doing it well, and they should be thanked for their efforts in making the community stronger as a whole.
Small town living doesn’t have to mean less access to amenities and at the rate that the Town of Athabasca and the surrounding communities are growing, it’s nice to know that some people are looking out for the future health and safety of all residents in the area. People get sick, accidents happen and care is needed, and those in charge of making sure services are provided are trying hard to make sure they will be.
Part of what the Physician Recruitment Committee does is bring in doctors from various places in the world who are looking to get into the medical field in Canada and take them on a tour of the area and the facilities that are available to local residents in hopes of encouraging them to move here. Most recently, the committee has brought in a doctor from Libya and another from South Africa to take the grand tour.
Both doctors would not be coming solo and have young families in tow, so a big aspect of showing them around is about letting them know what is available to residents that makes the area so special, like the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, where their children can grow and play in years to come.
As it stands right now, the plan is to have one of the doctors make the transition here in the next six months and another in the next nine months. The goal of the committee is to fill a need they see in the community and it seems that they are accomplishing that goal.
It takes a lot of effort for the committee – which is comprised of councillors, current doctors, and other community members – to bring in people of high caliber for the betterment of all and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. Although they don’t do what they do for praise and admiration, often it is the people behind the scenes that are forgotten until they are needed. This can be said for both the doctors and those who have taken the time to recruit and retain not just physicians but future members of the community.
Committee vice- chair and County councillor Mike Demko recently said he would like to see the community welcome them more because the community benefits as a whole and not just when disaster strikes. The same can be said for those pulling all the strings and getting the doctors to come out and make living in a small town all it can be. So next time you are out on the street and you see a local doctor or someone you know on the committee, thank them for all they do to make Athabasca a great place.
