The largest medical clinic in Fort St. John is claiming it will close its doors at the end of 2015 unless a massive influx of doctors are magically winked into existence - or actually hired, whichever comes first.
Perhaps this will encourage Northern Health and the province to sit up and take notice? I doubt it, but you never know.
The question on my mind, and likely others', is what is so horrible about working in Fort St. John that doctors don't want to stay? Something is clearly wrong and it's something the general public is obviously not privy to.
Why else would so many doctors decide to hit the bricks all in one shot?
And why are no resumes coming in to fill these positions?
Unsustainable work environments aren't uncommon; pretty much every industry tries to do more with less, often to the detriment of its workforce.
Humans are not robots and can only work so much before they cannot take it anymore.
So where does that leave the residents of Fort St. John? Do we make like the doctors and flee the city in hopes of greener medical pastures?
That'd be great, except doctor shortages are rampant all over the province. An increase in the number of patients in another community would eventually lead to the same problem Fort St. John is currently having.
Arguing over which community has it worse is pointless. We're all in the same boat, and as the Boomers get older, it's not going to get any better.
Let's look at it another way: we have a fantastic, almost-brand new hospital that no one wants to work at - this goes for doctors, surgeons and personal alike - and a pretty spanky medical clinic that no one wants to work at.
There are many opportunities to further their careers by working up here, tax incentives for living in the north, and some pretty decent bonuses for agreeing to move here from the health authority.
So who or what is at fault here?
A tiny light appeared at the end of the very long, very dark doctor-less tunnel with the announcement that the clinic had found one doctor to come work up here.
It's surprising the clinic could even get another doctor to commit to working there when they're saying they're closing up shop at the end of the year.
From what I've been hearing, the four or five or however many doctors coming this summer are temporary.
This new doctor apparently plans to take on the patients from two leaving doctors - how long before they burn out?
I don't know if that's accurate, but it doesn't bode well.
Doctors can't be forced to take jobs up here, but if the hundreds of thousands of dollars in signing bonuses and having their rent covered, like in Fort Nelson, or brand new facilities, like our hospital or even the clinic in Chetwynd, aren't enough, what do we have to do to convince doctors to practice here?
Do we have to assign each doctor their own manservant to take care of them and their families? A personal driver? Their own subdivision?
I'm not even being facetious here, I really want to know what it will take to keep doctors practicing in Fort St. John, and even the rest of the region.
Are there just too many patients per doctor? Do doctors constantly have to deal with hypochondriacs that waste valuable time that could be used for someone who really needs it?
Are we just too whiney they couldn't take it anymore?
I don't have any answers, and no one seems keen on providing any. I do know that something is going to have to be done very soon, or we're all just going to have to start wrapping ourselves in bubble wrap and never leave the house again.
