Richard Froese,
Smoky River Express

What can the Smoky River region do to attract and retain more physicians to this region? Our region will be down to two physicians in April when one of the current physicians leaves for Fairview. What we need more than anything is a long-term plan and strategy – not a Band-Aid solution. A basic flowchart was developed two years ago by the physician recruitment and retention committee for the Smoky River Region, a group comprised of community and municipal representatives. Although that plan was transferred to the Smoky River Community Health Council, it requires stronger municipal authority, since the CHC serves only in an advisory role for Peace Country Health. Municipal councils across Alberta and Canada have developed strong and effective plans for attracting and retaining physicians, including financial incentives. All five municipalities in the Smoky River region need to work together in partnership with the CHC and Falher and Area Community Association for Professional Services (which owns and operates Falher Medical Clinic) to finalize a plan if this region is serious about this health crisis. Local officials may also wish to work with provincial officials to make a special agreement for physicians in northern rural, similar to a plan finalized in northeastern Alberta. Northern Lights Health Region, the Alberta Medical Association and the Alberta government have agreed to a specialized workforce plan in Fort McMurray to help relieve some of the pressure on the local health system. “In order to help ensure adequate access to a doctor, immediate action was needed,” Health and Wellness Minister Dave Hancock says in a Government of Alberta press release. “This plan will provide support to local doctors who have been working so hard to provide quality care to residents.” Under the plan, available physicians from other parts of the province will assist local physicians in providing on-call physician services at the local hospital to residents without a family doctor. Previously, local doctors alone had been filling this role in addition to their work at their individual practices. The plan provides doctors coming to Fort McMurray with a daily stipend reported at $1,200, in addition to their travel and accommodation expenses, to help offset the expense of time away from their own practice. Local family physicians providing on-call services at the hospital will receive an increase to the daily stipend in recognition of the challenges inherent to caring for their patients on an ongoing basis while providing quality medical care to those admitted to hospital. “It is no secret that there is a workforce shortage in health care, not just in Fort McMurray but across the country,” said Hancock. “With the cooperation of the health region and the doctors, we have been able to find a temporary solution that helps ensure that patients get the care they need. I am very aware that we need a more permanent solution and I continue to explore options to find one.” To support the development of long-term solutions, the Northern Lights Health Region board and the health minister have agreed to establish a transition team to assist in determining long-term options for the reorganization of service delivery in the region, including primary care.

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