Inspiring Rural Communities is a collection of stories from rural Ontario communities. It is inspired by people who see potential in their home towns and are eager to share their experiences

Attracting Rural Doctors

Seaforth - Finding doctors for rural areas can be difficult. "In the old days the local doctor would pick a promising candidate out of high school and encourage him to pursue a medical career. The local doctor would even help pay his way through school," says Paul Nichol, a native of Brussels, Ontario, who works for the Huron Business Development Corporation. "The community would have a doctor for the next generation. That's how it was done for years in rural Ontario."

But times have changed. "There is a global shortage of physicians and pharmacists and as the population ages, it's becoming harder and harder to keep up to the demand for health services," says Gwen Devereaux, a healthcare recruiter working for Huron and Perth counties.

In Huron East/Seaforth, concerned community leaders have said it's time for some new thinking. They spearheaded the Huron East/Seaforth Community Development Trust, which committed $150,000 over three years, and their effort will be supplemented by $317,000 from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to launch the Skills for Healthcare Attraction and Retention Pilot program. Known locally as Health Kick Huron, the campaign is aimed at attracting new health-care professionals to this medically under-serviced Lake Huron community. The Ontario government hopes the strategies developed in the campaign will provide tested methods which other communities can also put to use.

"Families in rural Ontario deserve better access to primary care," says Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. "This pilot campaign in Huron East/Seaforth will help us realize that goal."

Seaforth Community Hospital serves a catchment area of about 10,000 people in East Huron County, with the equivalent of only four full-time family doctors, each serving an average of 1,500 patients. That leaves about 4,000 people without a family physician, according to Ron Lavoie, president of the hospital foundation.

Facing these local needs, the community's Skills for Healthcare Attraction and Retention Pilot program started rolling out a strategy. They knew the solution lay in attracting more doctors and nurses.

With the participation of Georgian College, for instance, 25 local residents have already enrolled in a four-year registered nursing practitioners' program being held Tuesdays and Thursdays at Seaforth's Community Care Access Centre. "The feedback has been glowing," says Paul Nichol. "Most of the students are already working in the health care field and are upgrading their skills. It seems natural that they will continue to work here (after graduating) since they're already living here and raising their families here."

Come July, some 24 Grade 10 students from Huron and Perth counties will spend an unusual week at Camp MedQuest, job shadowing doctors and nurses and other health-care workers and participating in a mock airplane crash to stimulate their interest in a health career.

Then there are ambassador teams, comprised of volunteers from all age groups. They help orient prospective doctors and their families on the advantages of settling in the area. "There are a lot of positives," Nichol enthuses. "In Seaforth you can buy a beautiful Victorian mansion for $200,000. We have to show that there are good economic and career opportunities here, along with a great small-town atmosphere."

Seaforth's medical centre is a latch-key operation run by the business development corporation. All a physician has to do is show up ready to work. The centre provides support staff, waiting and examining rooms, patient files, computers and a full roster of eager patients, says Ron Lavoie. This arrangement means significantly lower overhead - as much as 40 per cent lower - than the average family doctor spends across the province, Lavoie says.

Even the needs of part-time doctors have been anticipated. Two apartments in the historic old post office have been developed by the Community Development Trust, to lodge "locums" - part-time doctors who fill in for the regular staff.

The community even organizes an annual "Doctor Appreciation Weekend" with promises of great food, an evening at the nearby Stratford Festival and community orientation that drew 29 doctors-in-residence last fall. By the end of the weekend, five GPs committed to establishing a practice in the area after completing their residencies.

Part of the attraction is a partnership between the hospitals in Seaforth, Stratford and Clinton that allows doctors to refer patients to specialists throughout the three communities, says recruiter Gwen Devereaux.

The strategies being tested in Huron East/Seaforth are increasingly drawing interest from other communities in Ontario. That's a goal of the Health Kick Huron campaign and we're glad to share strategy with other communities says Devereaux.

For more information about Health Kick Huron, please contact Laura Overholt at loverholt@smallbusinesshuron.ca. For more information about the Rural Economic Development program which partnered with Huron East/Seaforth, please contact the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at 1-888-588-4111 or www.ontario.ca/rural.

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