Owen Sound and Georgian Bluffs are seeking physician recruitment support from the Ontario Minister of Health after attending the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) convention in Toronto.
During the convention from Jan. 22 to the 24, Mayor Ian Boddy and Deputy Mayor Scott Greig of Owen Sound, and Mayor Sue Carleton and Coun. Isaac Shouldice of Georgian Bluffs met with minister and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones requesting support attracting physicians.
While in discussions on Jan. 24, Boddy says they voiced their concern the way different municipalities are competing against each other to recruit and retain physicians.
“There is an initiative called the Northern Rural Recruitment and Retention, which offers taxable financial incentives to physicians for certain areas. Owen Sound does not qualify for that, but yet Chatsworth and Georgian Bluffs do qualify for that and of course they don’t have any doctors. So they can’t apply for it and use it at the Family Health Team in Owen Sound, which does service their area. So we are trying to get Owen Sound recognized so we can receive that initiative,” says Boddy.
He says as a result of population count and density the city does not qualify for the initiative.
While no decisions or suggestions were made by the minister at the conference, Boddy says the minister’s staff will take a look at what they had to say.
“This is an issue all across the province, so I am quite certain that the minister had, it wasn’t anything new to the difficulty recruiting doctors to northern a rural areas, but she was receptive and they do have some programs that they think will help all of Ontario and they will think about our suggestions, specifically with the changing of designation for Owen Sound,” says Boddy. “Our message was unified that our citizens simply need more doctors. To do that, the county and municipality need more tools and resources from the province to bring those doctors to Owen Sound and the surrounding area to provide access to everyday primary care.”
The ROMA annual conference gives municipalities across the province the opportunity to discuss critical issues, as well as engage, learn, network, and bring solutions back to their community’s.