Press Release
Rainy River is now facing the prospect of emergency room (ER) closures due to a physician shortage.
Recently, one of the two contract doctors resigned with two months’ notice.
So as of Oct. 3, there only will be one physician in a community that sports a clinic with a catchment area of 2,700, a 24-hour ER, and three acute-care beds.
No permanent replacement has been found. And despite every effort to find locum support to cover the position temporarily, not enough coverage currently is in place to prevent closures of the ER.
The shortage inevitably will put both clinic and ER pressure on the services of the nearby communities of Emo and Fort Frances, both of which also are short-staffed.
ER closures also would have a significant negative impact on both the cost and the management of ambulance services in the area.
Dan McCormick, interim CEO of the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board and manager of Land Ambulance Services, told a meeting of DSSAB reps last week that a permanent closure of Rainy River’s ER would cost more than $800,000 for the additional ambulance services that would be required to take area patients all the way to Fort Frances.
This cost would be borne under an apportionment formula by all of the municipalities in the district.
The hospital in Rainy River serves the town, three rural townships, and two First Nations’ communities. Residents of the area are facing the prospect of travelling between one and two hours to the nearest ER, which is in Fort Frances.
Rainy River Mayor Deb Ewald said the situation is serious for the medical welfare of the area.
“We obviously don’t want to be another Fort Erie, where a life was lost after the ER closed,” she said.
Several of the affected communities recently formed a partnership to strengthen Rainy River’s ability to attract physician services.
Recognizing their vulnerability in a time of locum shortages, this group of small, rural communities has been spearheading a $650,000 project—a duplex residence near the hospital to house visiting locum doctors.
They believe that having community-owned access to good quality accommodations for locums will have a significant long-term positive effect on both temporary and permanent physician staffing.
Local fundraising has brought in roughly $125,000 in private and small-business donations over the past four months.
Grant applications to federal and provincial funding agencies for support–the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. and FedNor—were turned down, and to date no corporate sponsors have stepped up to the plate.
There is a new urgency to the initiative as the scenario local residents feared has come to pass much sooner than anyone expected.
The community is redoubling its efforts, with offers of discounts from local suppliers coming in and from residents who are willing to volunteer their labour.
The locum housing project is expected to be complete in the first half of 2012, but that will not likely be soon enough to help avert the first ER closure.
Donations to the locum housing project can be made through the Rainy River municipal office at 852-3978.
