By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Chatham-Kent council is looking to help remedy the dire need for family doctors.
At the Nov. 18 council meeting, a lengthy motion came before council that would see more tax dollars funneled toward recruiting and retaining physicians in C-K.
Crafted by South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci and West Kent Coun. Melissa Harrigan, the six-point motion includes committing $85,000 in annual base budget funding to the Chatham-Kent Physician Recruitment and Retention Task Force.
The motion came in conjunction with a Support of Primary Health Care Access Points information report indicating there are currently 32,421 unrostered local residents living without a family doctor or nurse practitioner. According to the report, the municipality needs to bring in 45 family physicians to fill existing vacancies and bridge the gaps left by local doctors heading into retirement.
The motion recommends that money be drawn from strategic reserves to fund a primary care family physician incentive reserve of $120,000. The money would be used to create a new reserve to be used as needed, to help fund up to $25,000 in startup costs for new-to C-K doctors.
Four in-person and 11 email deputations – including one from Chatham-Kent Ontario Health Team (CKOHT) physician co-chair Dr. Briana Yee-Providence – were presented to council in support of the motion.
Harrigan said that she knows that incentives are needed, based on her work as head of the CKOHT, having the privilege of having a family doctor while experiencing her own cancer journey, and watching the “frantic” challenges family and friends face when they lose their family doctor.
The councillor said that while people might think a $20,000 or $25,000 incentive “is a lot of money,” other communities, such as the Niagara Region, are offering larger amounts for physician incentives.
“When we took a look at competition in other communities, having nothing is certainly not an option,” Harrigan said. “We need to have something to start with. This municipal reserve would allow for that. Residents in Chatham-Kent would look at this motion and look at our investments and they would see value in what it is the municipality is doing.”
Harrigan pointed out that Chatham-Kent is but one of the three partners in the physician recruitment effort, with the others being the province and the community.
In speaking to the motion, Ceccacci said action is needed, as rural communities are “pitted” against each other in fierce competition to recruit doctors.
With the exception of the $85,000 to be spent on a recruiter – this item will be referred to budget deliberations – the remaining items in the motion were deferred to the Dec. 9 regular council meeting. Council voted 10-6 to defer the motion following a request from North Kent Coun. Jamie McGrail to allow councillors time to examine the financial implications of drawing on strategic reserves.
Physician recruitment is getting renewed support within the community. A recently launched campaign to raise $100,000 for doctor recruitment in Wallaceburg surpassed the midway mark after just three weeks.
