Owen Sound City Hall. (Matt Hermiz/Bayshore Broadcasting)
Owen Sound is formalizing an arrangement that’s helping provide housing for medical students in the city.
Council approved a recommendation at its meeting Monday to commit to a partnership with the Rural Ontario Medical Program, Brightshores Health System and Grey County to support accommodation for medical students.
Owen Sound Fire Chief Phil Eagleson — who’s involved with a local physician recruitment task force — told councillors this agreement is formalizing an arrangement that started this past summer, when a property was leased in Owen Sound that could house up to four medical residents.
“To co-share the responsibility of a Rural Ontario Medical Program house, for future doctors to come, learn and enjoy our city and our area through (Brightshores Health System) placements,” Eagleson told councillors during Monday’s meeting.
The technical terms of the agreement: Grey County is leasing the property until August 31, 2026. The Rural Ontario Medical Program is providing funds to Grey County to pay the rent. Owen Sound is supplying internet service, garbage bag tags, snow removal service and providing extra parking for the tenant medical students at the Julie McArthur Regional Recreation Centre.
Owen Sound is also actively working with Brightshores and could potentially renovate and repurpose two additional properties that are city-owned to use as medical student housing in future.
“We’re a small part of this agreement, but my role in it gives me the most face-to-face time with these potential doctors to showcase our city and encourage them to explore and go to an Attack game, get out and really enjoy all the wonderful things here so that they will come back in time to us,” Eagleson says.
Eagleson says the city is hopeful the partnership will help the attract doctors to Owen Sound. He says the property will allow up to 16 medical students to stay in Owen Sound each year, during the two-year agreement.
“We hope to see more than 30 future doctors come to Owen Sound, stay here, learn here and fall in love with our city,” Eagleson says. “To hopefully return.”
In a report, Eagleson says local data shows a lack of accommodation for medical students is a barrier to “placing future doctors who wish to train here.” Twelve local learning placements at Brightshores over the past year were “unable to take place” due to a lack of accommodations.
“Each of those lost placements represents a missed opportunity to have secured a future doctor practicing in our area,” Eagleson says in a report.
Eagleson points to research by the National Society of Rural Physicians of Canada and the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario that shows learners who participate in rural family medicine programs and build “strong, positive relationships” in the community will usually stay.
He says local data shows medical residents who have an excellent experience during training at local hospitals are more likely to choose to practice in this area with they graduate.
“Over 70 per cent will stay in the local area to practice,” Eagleson says in a report. “ROMP has recently indicated that Owen Sound area placement rates of learners staying to practice in the area is currently 93 per cent.”
According to Eagleson, there are more than 40,000 people in Bruce and Grey counties without a family doctor. Last year, he sounded the alarm about the pressing need for new family doctors in Owen Sound because of physician retirements at the Owen Sound Family Health Team, population growth and to serve those without primary care currently.
The report said Owen Sound would need about a dozen new family doctors within three years. It also estimated as many as 6,000 people in the city were without a family doctor.