CORNWALL, Ontario – Cornwall’s first medical recruitment bursary winner may be forced to work alone, without the support of more experienced colleagues, if the city is unsuccessful in landing provincial support.
But city hall has her back.
Dr. Vanessa Carter must start a family practice in Cornwall, as part of an agreement she has with city hall that saw her net $150,000 to help pay for her education.
The province is rolling out 20 so-called “Family Health Group” spots this year, where groups of three or more doctors work in collaboration together.
If Cornwall is unsuccessful in getting one of those spots, Carter will have to go it alone.
“If she is forced to work on a fee-for-service basis, it would be a huge decrease in the income she had been expecting to make, not to mention the difficulties of working in a solo practice, with no backup, or support from more experienced colleagues,” said Dr. Raji Menon, the president of the Cornwall Academy of Medicine, in a letter to Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins.
City hall received her letter Monday night, and council tasked Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy with writing to the minister as well.
O’Shaughnessy will be lobbying for one of the 20 Family Health Group spots.
“Make sure the letter is strong,” said Coun. Brock Frost.
A report from economic development manager Mark Boileau suggests the province’s new rules will make it “less attractive to new medical practitioners in our community.”
Menon agrees, and said in her letter this new reality for med school graduates is a tough pill to swallow and will not mitigate the growing list of residents who have no doctor.
“Cornwall has a huge number of orphan patients, and with every physician we can recruit, we hope to improve those numbers by a few thousand at least,” she wrote in her letter. “Based on the recent events, and the uncertainty of it all, we are afraid our recruitment efforts may not pay off, just when it was ready to bear fruit.”