Two councillors are hoping to find a way to attract more primary healthcare providers to Huntsville.
News of the coming retirement of two long-time Huntsville physicians on September 30, 2024—Drs. Eastmure and De Roode—and rumours of a third Huntsville doctor also expected to retire in the next six months, means the number of patients without a primary healthcare provider, or unattached patients, will increase even further.
Currently, there are more than 3,000 people without a primary care provider in Huntsville, and once physicians Eastmure and De Roode retire, that number is expected to soar to over 5,000, explained Huntsville Councillor Bob Stone, who sits on the District Health Services Committee and a Muskoka and area primary care provider recruitment taskforce.
On March 1st, a letter sent out by Drs. Eastmure and De Roode to their patients, stated that they were having difficulty finding a replacement physician to take over their practices.
That has Stone worried.
“To understand, we have just under 22,000 people in Huntsville and if over 5,000 people in Huntsville don’t have a physician or primary health care provider, then that is a huge portion of our population. That’s huge and there’s more looming.”
Stone and Councillor Scott Morrison are expected to bring a motion when Huntsville Council meets on Monday asking for approval to investigate the creation of an incentive package to attract primary healthcare providers to Huntsville.
“Scott and I want to create some incentives, for Huntsville specifically, that will tip the scale. When a new physician is looking to come to a community they are deciding ‘do I go to this one or that one.’ And we think we can tip the scale by having some financial and some voucher-type incentive programs,” said Stone. “We want to zero down on one very specific need that is growing, which is the unattached patients.”
Huntsville Council meets on Monday, March 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
Attraction and retention is paramount with our health care providers. A basic need for anyone considering to relocate here is accommodation for the family. We are competing for these people and need every advantage in order to be successful. Huntsville needs to differentiate itself from all others. The attraction of our Town being in Muskoka may have worked in the past but this is no longer the case. Our recruiters need to be armed with every attraction tool we can muster. By providing housing for a period of time, we would be able to deliver enormous relief to someone considering a move and in making an employment decision. There may be other considerations but I submit that housing is most likely to be the most important.
Why isn’t the hospital ending it’s mandates? Why won’t the CEO answer the question? Other hospitals, etc have dropped theirs……meanwhile you’re shipping up agency workers for more money…….how does this make any sense?
All said is great, I believe it’s not a monetary incentive but a reassurance of our hospitals going forward with the construction of the new hospital’s. Who would want to gamble at this moment that what they are signing up for will be in place 2,3 or 5 years down the road these professionals Doctors & Nurses want to be hear but not with the uncertainty that exits. Politicians get off your duffs and rally everyone get these hospital’s built!!!!! Or maybe we wont get anything due to screwing around, as is going on at the moment
I am guessing that Bob Stone and Scott Morrison have already discussed this effort with Dr Melanie Mar and the group working on recruitment already to see if any incentives from the town or businesses-free rent? -free stay at someone’s cottage during recruitment drive? – may be helpful.( Huntsville already on list for foreign trained docs looking to practice in Ontario, I checked) Overhead costs and probably future potential for income as well as work-life balance that joining a multi discipline health care clinic offers would be helpful.It is a combination of personal, job for spouses, other family proximity, and professional needs. Anyone who has a doc in the family has been trying to woo them to Muskoka.We also must do what we can to support existing primary care in the area. The challenges of the hospital redevelopment also must offer opportunity.
Be interesting to discover how many Physicians have Summer homes ( AKA ) IN Muskoka. Perhaps tax relief might be an incentive .
I read an article just the past couple of weeks ago that England has secured residential units just for medical staff – doctors, nurses and techs. In doing this, staff have stayed instead of either leaving to work in another town or leaving the profession all together..They too are having a shortage just like us Canucks. Perhaps this is something that should be considered for our area.
Maybe developers with upcoming developments could incorporate something like this into future development plans?
Of course, now I can not find that article but have found these links:
https://a2dominion.co.uk/en/services/Key-worker-homes
https://www.iconicalondon.co.uk/
https://thelowegroupltd.com/exclusive-flats-for-nhs-workers/
Best of luck Bob and Scott.