An expert on attracting physicians to Fort Frances will be coming here later this year after town council agreed Monday night to a request from the local doctor recruitment committee.
“We’re reaching crucial stages in regards to our shortage of doctors in the community,” said Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig, who sits on the doctor recruitment board along with Mayor dan Onichuk and representatives from the Fort Frances Clinic, Abitibi-Consolidated, and local public school board, among others.
“And we’re exploring all kinds of ideas, from sending people on recruiting tours to different incentives the town can provide to bring doctors here,” McCaig added.
“But what’s happening in our community, and this has been communicated to us from the staff at the clinic, is that there is a shortage of doctors,” he noted. “The workload is becoming burdensome to the point that it is not an incentive for people to come.
“There’s many dragons they have to slay here to entice doctors to come,” he warned.
McCaig said at the last meeting of the doctor recruitment committee, it was identified that a couple more doctors here may be thinking of moving away, making the situation “even more critical.”
“Dr. [Diane] Haak made the suggestion at the last meeting we set aside some time for an ‘expert’ to come in and give a presentation to the doctor recruitment committee about some initiatives that we could be exploring, and I suggested that it may be done in conjunction with a Monday night council meeting,” said McCaig.
The expert suggested is Jim Neufeld, a clinic administrator in Winkler, Man. who has “had some good successes in regards to recruitment of doctors in [Winkler],” McCaig noted.
“I want to get the message out there that a very critical exercise is going on within our community, and I’d like to ask council’s support to bring Mr. Neufeld in to speak wo us at one of our upcoming council meetings and to consult with the doctor recruitment committee,” he added.
Council accepted McCaig’s report from the doctor recruitment committee, and supported the request to bring Neufeld here to present at a future council meeting.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•referred letters from Steve Both and Family and Children’s Services regarding parking concerns on the 200 block of First Street East to the Planning and Development executive committee for a recommendation;
•agreed to proclaim February as “Heart Month” in Fort Frances as per a request from the Heart and Stroke Foundation;
•passed a bylaw to approved an agreement with North Air Services for “Dial-A-Ride” (this renewed contract is effective from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2007);
•passed a bylaw to enter into an agreement granting easement with Shaw Cable over municipal land south of Keating Avenue and Fifth Street West;
•referred a letter of complaint from Bob Dobransky regarding an outstanding water bill on a rental unit to the Administration and Finance executive committee for a recommendation;
•referred a request from the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association for financial support of the Northwestern Ontario Medical Education Award Fund to the Administration and Finance executive committee for a recommendation; and
•agreed to support a request from the Town of Minto for support of its resolution regarding reviving Bill C15A (to outlaw offensive Internet material).
(Fort Frances Daily Bulletin)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
