Frontenac County, And Its Municipalities, Need To Get Involved With 'Find A Doc'

Jeff Green | Feb 15, 2023

Over the last 15 years, there have been a couple of successful 'find a doc' campaigns in our region. While the circumstances today are different, those successes are still instructive. In one case, the township of Addington Highlands, with support from the Township of North Frontenac, invested in the Northbrook Clinic, worked in support of long time local practitioner Dr. Tobia to establish a Family Health Team there, and invested in an incentive program that brought two doctor's to Northbrook. Although one of them left,fir family reasons, but Dr. Matt Dumas has become well established at the clinic.

In Sharbot Lake, Central Frontenac Township worked with Dr. Bell to establish a Family Health Team, including an expanded facility, bringing a host of services to the local community.

And in Verona, the “Find a Doc” campaign, which was community based, resulted in the township purchasing the clinic, and in the ability to recruit Dr. Sabra Gibbens to join Dr. Piotr Oglaza in what was at the time a two-doctor clinic before Dr. Oglaza left to pursue a specialty in public health, enabling a smooth transition for the local community when Dr. Laurel Dempsey retired.

While the circumstances were different in each case, there were similarities that are instructive in dealing with what local doctor's are now flagging as an impending crisis in a more difficult heathcare environment.

In all three cases, a partnership between community partners, the local township, the doctor's and the teams that they work with, were all involved in finding a solution.

Some of the statements made by politicians at Frontenac County Council last week, indicate that there is a missing link between the doctor's and Frontenac County politicians.

Frontenac County Council were confused by the presentation by Doctor Dietrich (Sydenham Medical Clinic) and Deborah Krause (Sharbot Lake Family Health Team).

The wondered why there was no 'concrete ask' in the presentation, which is understandable because the discussion they had about the presentation took place in the context of the county budget.

The presentation was really about informing local politicians of an existential threat to healthcare services, one of the key factors in the economic and social fabric of their communities, and the ask was for a long term engagement with them to seek solutions, as well as financial support.

To their credit, the council put $22,000 into a fund to address the problem.

But that money, and the idea that a head hunter could scour the field and put together a short list of candidates to choose from, does not fit with reality.

The lack of family physicians is a national problem in Canada that is well documented and has been extensively reported on.

And local politicians need to step back and really listen to what the doctor's have been saying.

What is needed is engagement.

A politician, or better yet a small groups of politicians from across the county needs to meet with the doctor's, and others, to figure out how to tackle this problem from a community development, marketing, and financial perspective.

Yes, the townships need to invest.

South Frontenac will need to establish a reserve fund to cover up to $200,000 over ten years to create the same incentive that exists in Central and North Frontenac, Kingston, and just about every other jurisdiction in Ontario. And there will be some expertise that will need to be hired to navigate the recruitment process.

But beyond that a group of people, politicians and others, need to learn all they can about what would draw the right doctor(s) for Verona, Sharbot Lake, and sooner than later, Sydenham has well, to begin a Frontenac “Find a Doc” campaign

The doctors said, very clearly, that they do not have the time, or the expertise to do this work. They are paid to provide medical care, and because of the size of our small clinics, they are also responsible for the management of clinical and administrative staff.

They cannot do this recruitment as well, but the fact that they banded together to come to these meetings demonstrates their commitment to the local communities they serve, and the politicians representing those communities, as well as others, need to respond in order for their to be any chance for success.

This point was well illustrated when Dr. Dietrich looked at her watch at 10:20 while appearing before Frontenac County Council in January, and then said, “I apologize but I need to leave. I have a patient coming to see me at 10:30”