By Rick Pusiak
It?s next to impossible for someone moving to Sudbury to get a family doctor. The answering machine for the medical society gives callers the bad news: no local physician is accepting new patients.
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Valley East councillors Ron Dupuis and Louise Portelance |
Even those in Sudbury who have had a family doctor are sometimes in a precarious situation. Older doctors are retiring leaving their clients ?orphans.? They find themselves sitting in after-hours clinics or in the hospital emergency department with people who are newcomers to the area.
Some 900,000 citizens in Ontario do not have a general practitioner, according to a recent report by the Ontario Medical Association.
Valley East is one of many communities in a crisis situation. It is estimated 15,000 out of 24,000 residents do not have a family physician. People are getting desperate.
?This is a crisis, it?s not just a need, it?s a crisis,? said Louise Portelance, one of two city councillors for the Valley East area.
Her colleague, Ron Dupuis, said his own family doctor has a sign indicating he is not accepting new patients, there is no waiting list, and don?t even bother asking.
?They are getting burnt out?we?re forcing older doctors to retire sooner then they want to because they can?t absorb this enormous workload,? said Dupuis.
The two elected officials have a plan that would at least alleviate some of the strain. They are hoping during budget discussions this week city council will approve $175,000 for renovations to turn the old Valley East City Hall into a mini-medical centre.
The money would be used to furnish the centre so that new doctors, who have hefty student loans, wouldn?t have to go further in debt to open their own offices.
It is hoped this type of ?turn-key? operation would be an incentive to attract doctors to the Valley.
The best case scenario is completion of renovations by year?s end with three physicians on staff by the spring.
Recruiting has already begun and some young doctors have expressed an interest.
Portelance noted $800,000 was spent in the past on renovations to the building.
Portelance said the people of Valley East paid for that, and the old city hall will be declared surplus over her ?dead body.?
A similar turn-key health facility for young doctors is already in operation in Sturgeon Falls.
The only thing that could prevent the Valley East project from going ahead is political wrangling.
Other former municipalities see merit in the Valley East idea and want similar funding resulting in the $175,000 request ballooning to a budget line of $600,000.
Portelance and Dupuis hope their funding request will be given separate consideration since preparation and planning for their proposal is more detailed.
A small section of the old city hall is already being used by nurse practitioner Marilyn Butcher under a two-year research project through the local health unit, funded by the Ontario Women?s Health Council.
She visits the office every Thursday to provide full examinations for women including pap smears and breast exams. During that one day about eight women come for a check up.
As part of the project the women she sees are asked to fill out a questionnaire about access to health care.
?We?re asking women what kind of barriers they have in accessing health care on a regular basis and why is it they choose to come to a clinic like this,? said Butcher.
?We hope at the end of this to go to the Ontario Women?s Health Council and say ?this was what the women in Sudbury and Manitoulin District said about this type of clinic.?
There is a one month waiting period for a medical examination. Appointments are made by calling the health unit.
The long term goal is bring other disciplines including mental health together under one roof. A City of Valley East report called for such a facility at least four years ago.
Portelance said the only hold up was that no building was available and the cost of building one was too prohibitive.
?You?re looking at structural costs,? said Portelance.
?This is why this didn?t fly?the need is there.
?Now we have a building. This should fly like a piece of cake.?
