| Jan 25, 2023


Same venue, same presentation, different group

Dr Jeanette Dietrich of the Sydenham Medical Centre, who is also the lead physician of the Rural Kingston Family Health Organization, was joined by Deborah Krause, Executive Director of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, to make a presentation about doctor recruitment in Frontenac County at the January Meeting of Frontenac County Council last week.

Because the Frontenac County offices are being renovated, council meetings are being held in the South Frontenac Council Chambers in Sydenham in 2023. The presenters, along with Dr. Sabra Gibbens from Verona Medical Centre, made a similar presentation in the same room for South Frontenac Council just over a week earlier.

While the presentation was essentially the same, and was the subject of an article in the Frontenac News on January 19 (see Frontenacnews.ca - “South Frontenac Will Look at Proposal ...) the request for support from Frontenac County was different.

Instead of asking for support for the establishment of an inventive fund to recruit a new doctor for one of the clinics in Frontenac County (Sydenham, Verona, Sharbot Lake) the presenters were looking to the county to fund, or even hire, a part-time recruiter to help them compete in the tight market for family physicians. The estimated cost of the position is $20,000 per year.

“We do not have the time, nor the marketing expertise, to let potential recruits know what Frontenac County has to offer,” said Deborah Krause.

Ron Vandewal, in his capacity as Frontenac County Warden, said “while I hate to think about competing with other communities for doctor's, but that's the way it is. I think as far as the Doctor Recruitment position, I think that we could look at partnering with L&A [Lennox and Addington County] because they are in the same situation, we have a working relationship with them. Maybe one recruiter could service both areas. We can bring this, potential position, to budget, but I think working with L&A makes sense to us. What do you think?”

“As the lead physician of an organisation that straddles the border with L&A [The Rural Kingston Family Health Organisation includes the clinics in Tamworth and Newburgh as well as the three in Frontenac County], that makes sense to me. A new physician in our region helps the entire region,” she said.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Judith Greenwood-Speers noted that in the presentation, personal networking was identified by graduating family physicians as the most effective recruitment tool, wondered if incentives and recruiters are an effective tool.

“I'm playing devil's advocate her, but other jurisdictions can easily out-bid us,” she said.

“As far as the recruitment piece is concerned, it's partly about administration and knowing the landscape. It certainly is not efficient for me to prepare and present power-point presentation like this one, when I am better suited to seeing patient,” said Dr. Dietrich.

As if to illustrate that point, a few minutes later, after some final comments on the presentation by members of council and the warden, Dr. Dietrich excused herself.

“I hope you don't think I'm being rude, but I have run. I have a patient at 10:30,” she said, as she gathered her notes and put her coat on to return to her nearby clinic.

“No, I'm sure they're wondering where you are,” said Vandewal.

Communal Servicing

Although it was not on the agenda, the communal servicing project that the Frontenac County Planning Department has been working on for years and is now entering the activation phase, was on the minds of council, and staff.

During his monthly briefing, [which this reporter watched in its entirety on the County Youtube feed, btw] CAO Kelly Pender said that along with Warden Vandewal and South Frontenac Chief Administrator Louise Fragnito, he made a presentation to a meeting with provincial officials.

“As well,” he said, Louise is representing us at a pre-budget consultation in Napanee this morning, in the hope that we can convince the province to fund the start-up costs for the communal servicing corporation.

Later in the meeting, during a briefing about the impact of Bill 23 on Planning processes in Frontenac County, community planner Dmitry Kurylovich said that one of the provisions of Bill 23 does not apply in Frontenac County because there are no communities with both sewer and water services.

“We need to seek clarity about whether the provision would apply in housing developments that have communal sewer and water services under a communal servicing corporation” Kurylovich said.

Office reconstruction update

CAO Pender reported that the demolition work on the existing county offices is just about complete, as is the asbestos abatement aspect of the project, the concrete footings have been poured, and the electric and drywall work should be complete within a couple of weeks”

“We are on track to have the building ready for us to occupy by the end of 2023,” he said.

EOWC agenda for 2023 mirrors issues of concern in FC

CAO Pender reported on the inaugural meeting of the 2023 Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus (EOWC) which took place over two days in Kingston earlier in the month. Peter Emons, the Reeve of the town of Renfrew and former Mayor of Madawaska Township, a close neighbour of North Frontenac Township, was elected as Chair of the EOWC for 2023.

He said that among the items on the EOWC agenda for 2023, are “long term care and the health care human resources crisis, issues that we are very familiar with in Frontenac County. There are vacancies for 30-50 positions at Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedics onan ongoing basis,” he said.

More measures to deal with North Frontenac Landowners along the K&P Trail

A long in camera session took place late in the council, in addition to the session at the beginning, and while the reason was not specified, it appears that it had to do with the expansion and redevelopement plans for the K&P Trail in the Mississippi Station/ Snow Road vicinity, and the ability to build out the trail through 5 privately owned properties in that area

Early in the meeting, North Frontenac Mayor Gerry Lichty declared a conflict of interest regarding trail expansion plans, because, he said, of his relations to some of five property owners along the trail. These landowners have property between the properties that are already being expropriated by the county and the Road 509 at the top of Snow Road.

When the in camera session came to an end, Mayor Lichty walked back into the room.

There was not public report on the outcome of the in camera meeting.

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