Three new doctors will move to Fort St. James over the next six months, taking pressure off the community's strained emergency room.
Northern Health announced Tuesday that one male part-time doctor will start in October and two full-time physicians, a husband and wife team, will arrive in early 2013.
April Hughes, a health services administrator with Northern Health, said she's thrilled with the news and credited a new recruitment model for the success. She said Northern Health worked with the community and the one existing local doctor to help organize weekend tours of Fort St. James for doctors interested in making the move.
"The potential recruits when they were coming through the community were hosted by families in the community, were
participating in events within the community, were toured around and taken in local businesses," she said.
"They were just really well taken care of and really exposed to the individuals who live in the community, which was great."
Hughes said the natural beauty of the town was a selling point, but said having community members involved in the process made the potential recruits feel extra
welcome.
All three doctors have ties to South Africa but at least two of them have Canadian citizenship. Northern Health is not releasing their names at the moment.
Fort St. James has been down to just one full-time doctor since the spring, which has resulted in inconsistent opening hours for the emergency room at Stuart Lake Hospital and led to confusion for patients who don't know where they should go to seek treatment.
In the short-term, Northern Health has secured the services of locums to keep the ER open on a partial schedule for the rest of the month.
The good news for Fort St. James comes the same day the provincial government and the BC Medical Association (BCMA) announced the ratification of a $10 million plan to support the recruitment and retention of doctors in rural areas. A joint committee with representatives of the provincial health ministry, the BCMA and regional health authorities will decide on how the money is divided up.
Northern Health launched the recruitment drive in Fort St. James in February and will continue the process until it meets its goal of five full-time physicians. Just this past weekend, a group of potential doctors came through the community.
"The advertising for these positions has been regional, it's been provincial, it's been national across Canada, it's been across North America and there's been advertising internationally as well so they've targeted every level possible," Hughes said.
