Nanaimo Rolls out Red Carpet, Recruits New Doctors

Nanaimo has been rolling out the red carpet to welcome prospective doctors to the community and their efforts are paying off.  Over the past year, five doctors have made the decision to move to the island community and six residents have chosen to stay in Nanaimo after completing their residency for a total of eleven new doctors.

Dr. David Sims, currently working in Yellowknife, NWT, is one of the doctors who will be moving to Nanaimo this fall.  In a recent interview, Dr. Sims told CTV News Nanaimo that the recruitment program spearheaded by the Nanaimo Division of Family Practice played a key role in his choice.

“The reassurance that there was work.  The reassurance that we had support for things like finding a home, and schools or daycare, if we were to have kids.  That was part of our decision for sure.”

The Nanaimo Division’s Red Carpet Welcome package aims to provide a warm reception to doctors visiting the community.  Visiting doctors are provided with car rental, accommodations and they are welcomed by local doctors who can tell them what it is like to live and work in the community.

Myla Yeomans-Routledge is the Recruitment Coordinator for the Nanaimo Division. Yeomans-Routledge says that lifestyle and housing affordability is a big draw for doctors.  “We are more promoting lifestyle versus money.  We have a really easy community to recruit to,” says Yeomans-Routledge.

In addition to the Red Carpet program, new doctors who are completing their residency in the community are actively encouraged to stay and practice in the city.  Residents are provided with physician mentors, invited to engage in social activities, and they are offered non-work related supports for their entire families, such as assisting their spouses to find employment, helping their children find schools, and linking them with other families with similar interests or children of the same age.

Dr. Melissa Oberholster is the physician lead for A GP for Me in Nanaimo.  A GP for Me is a joint initiative of the Government of BC and Doctors of BC aimed to improve access to primary care.  With retirement rates on the rise in the community, Dr. Oberholster told CTV Nanaimo that she sees the recruitment program as an important part of ensuring that patients have access to a family physician.

“If we can prevent two physicians that retire from their patients being orphaned, that prevents another 3,000 people being added to the pool of people who already don’t have a family doctor.”

For more information about the Nanaimo Division of Family Practice, visit https://divisionsbc.ca/nanaimo

To watch the CTV News story about recruitment in Nanaimo, visit http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=678449