Township of Chapleau
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June 21, 2007 On June 12th, Services de santé de Chapleau Health Services (SSCHS) held its annual meeting at the Chapleau General Hospital. SSCHS was honoured to have Jackie Thoms, a registered nurse, who has a diverse career in the health sector as their guest speaker. Most recently, prior to her retirement in December 2006, Jackie was the Health Professional and Community Development Program Manager for the Northeastern Ontario Medical Education Corporation (NOMEC), which integrated into the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. As an active member of the Canadian Association of Staff Physician Recruiters, Jackie now provides consulting services to health agencies who are trying to recruit and retain health professionals. At the annual meeting Jackie spoke to the issues of recruitment and retention of physicians
and other health professionals with regards to supply and demand and changing practice
patterns. It was explained that more and more communities, such as Chapleau, are all competing
for the same resources; that of full time family physicians. "If you look at medical
journals you will see advertisements that are colourful, show a variety of incentives, such as
large signing bonuses, huge interest free loans, generous paid educational leaves and the
like" Jackie stated. In a 2002 decima poll, it was presented that 4.5 million Canadians had trouble finding a
family doctor and that 1 million Ontarians were without a family doctor. The situation is no
better today with northern urban and small, remote and rural communities, who are very much
feeling the pinch. The poll indicated that 22% of the family doctors were considering leaving
the profession, 25% planning to retire and another 16% thought they might leave the
province. Jackie also explained the direct and indirect economic implications of not having sufficient
physicians in a community, which include: reduced employment in the health sector, accompanying
loss wages, with subsequent loss of purchase of goods and services. Even more alarming, is that
fact that businesses and industries shy away from communities that do not have appropriate
medical services and this impacts real estate and other sectors. Currently Chapleau is in an enviable position to have a steady group of committed locum
physicians providing excellent consistent services. Without this dedicated group of doctors,
the community would be forced in the same position of some other communities of closing their
emergency departments and clinics. "However to successfully recruit permanent health professionals", Jackie
explained, "there needs to be a triad of partners --- the Ministry of Health and Long-Term
Care (MOHLTC), the community and the hospital." The MOHLTC currently provides a free
website for agencies to advertise on, funding for a physician salary model (RNPGA), funding for
community assessment visits to health professionals and financial incentives to physicians to
locate in under serviced areas. Chapleau Health Services is currently providing funding &
staffing to attend job recruitment fairs, medical clinic staffing, as well as many other
recruitment initiatives. Jackie emphasised, "That in order to be successful, everyone needs to be cheerleaders
for their community and ensure that there is a fiscal plan of support in place for your
community to recruit and retain."
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