Heather Latter
With Dr. Cynthia Saliba submitting her resignation to the Fort Frances Clinic and Nelson Medical Corp. last month, the CEO of Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. said efforts to recruit a new physician here will be “stepped up.”
Allan Katz noted there will be a Health Professionals Recruitment Tour (HPRT) in the province this fall, which will stop in seven different cities—Thunder Bay (Sept. 20), Ottawa (Sept. 30), Kingston (Oct. 1), Hamilton (Oct. 2), London (Oct. 3), Toronto (Oct. 4), and Sudbury (Oct. 18).
“And certainly Fort Frances is going to be well-represented at all the sites,” Katz stressed.
The recruitment tour is an annual job fair that provides an opportunity for residents, medical students, and other allied health-care professionals to meet and make contacts with community reps from under-serviced areas across Ontario.
“We still need to work very hard on recruitment efforts, and hopefully a combination of our touring, our advertising in the Northern Ontario [medical] journals, and continuing to work with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Thunder Bay will pay off,” Katz remarked.
“We are always optimistic,” he added. “But we have to continue our efforts in recruiting for family physicians and working with Nelson Medical, the Fort Frances Clinic, and the Town of Fort Frances.”
Dr. Saliba’s resignation is effective Aug. 31 and her patients have been sent a letter to inform them of this.
“Unfortunately at this time, there is not a new family practitioner to accept my patients and you will be de-registered from my practice effective Aug. 31,” the letter states.
Patients have been advised that Dr. Robert Algie and Dr. Brian Johnstone are accepting some new patients, but both have a significant practice already.
“As soon as a new family physician joins the [Fort Frances Family Health Organization], an advertisement will be placed in the Fort Frances Times to inform you of the opportunity to book a ‘meet and greet’ appointment,” Dr. Saliba noted.
In the meantime, her patients can book appointments with an available Family Health Organization physician or with the Fort Frances Family Health Team’s nurse practitioners.
They also are reminded that emergency care always is available at La Verendrye General Hospital here.
“We are going to do the best we can to accommodate patients,” stressed Family Health Organization lead physician Dr. Algie, noting sometimes people only need their prescriptions refilled and some of that can be done over the phone without actually seeing the physician.
He also noted a family physician is committed to come here in August, 2013.
“I know that is a long time to hold on, but there are some options,” Dr. Algie said, adding two physicians will be coming to Fort Frances in October and November for some vacation relief and to allow current doctors to do some more education.
“They are still looking for a place to relocate, so we’re hopeful that if their experience here is positive, they may choose Fort Frances as a place to come back to,” he remarked.
In related news, the local Physician Recruitment Committee also announced last month that a new general surgeon, Dr. Bahram Shahi, has agreed to relocate from Glasgow, N.S. to Fort Frances to replace Dr. Carole Spread, who left in the spring.
A graduate of the University of Tehran Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Shahi completed his general surgery residency at the University of Western Ontario in London.
Upon finishing a two-month locum (temporary assignment) at the hospital here and taking some time off, he is set to return next month.
