LETHBRIDGE- Last year an estimated four million Canadians did not have a family doctor.
The shortage has put added pressure on emergency departments and the health care system as a whole.
In Lethbridge, Alberta Health Services has been dealing with a family physician shortage for the past four to five years. For many residents, the struggle to find a doctor seems never ending.
Sarah Burrell has been on the hunt for a family doctor since she moved to Lethbridge six months ago, “We’ve called every clinic and there’s one that is accepting but she told me on the phone, she said by the time you apply and we go through all the papers it’ll be full so she said I shouldn’t bother.”
Her oldest daughter has severe allergies and eczema and without a family physician they’re forced to rely on less than ideal options.
“We can either go to the walk-in which is open at five o’clock in the evening and closes at seven, so if you get there at five-thirty its already full so we don’t make it in time. Then we go to emergency and it’s usually a really long wait. I feel bad that I’m taking up space from an emergency and it’s also frustrating to have to wait there for six to eight hours,” adds Burrell.
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And, this seems to be happening throughout southern Alberta. South Zone Medical Director, Dr. Vanessa Maclean says the shortage of family physicians within Lethbridge is directly impacting the health system, “There is pressure in two areas. There is pressure in our emergency department for sure and then a lot of the clinics in town have afterhours access and sometimes they get over whelmed.”
AHS says in order for all residents to have a doctor, 15 family physicians are needed within the community.
“We are starting to see some success. We have, in collaboration with the clinics and the community, recruited eight new physicians to the community, two have arrived and we are anticipating six in the next few months,” adds Dr. Maclean.
Mary Coles manages the Wellness Centre at Lethbridge College. They offer five doctors, four days a week and can hardly keep up with demand, “Our doctors are completely, fully booked almost every week. We put a door counter in and we are somewhere between 17 thousand and 20 thousand visits a year, and we closed for the summer so that is just the fall and spring semester, it is a very busy place.”
AHS says the doctor shortage is a national problem. And recruiting physicians involves three factors; doctors themselves, support from AHS and the community.
“When physicians are looking for a community, they’re looking at it from the perspective of their family. Is there employment for their spous and what are the services like for their children? We’ve got really great support in show casing and supporting what we have available in Lethbridge and surrounding areas,” adds Dr. Maclean.
But for Burrell, she says even with new doctors coming to Lethbridge she worries it’s not enough and feels more clinics are needed, “It’s hard for us because we are a family of six so even if there is someone taking new patients they don’t have room for six, they have room for one or two.
Premier Redford stated yesterday that health minister Fred Horne will be announcing more than 80 new family care clinics in the next two months, but which communities will get them is not yet known.
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