-Designating Osoyoos and Oliver as separate communities could increase chances of bringing more doctors here-
OSOYOOS TIMES-January 9, 2008-
By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times
The Osoyoos-Oliver medical community is happy and relieved that a South African doctor has decided to practise medicine herernWe're very encouraged, said Dr. David Shaw. He could have gone anywhere and he chose B.C.rnShaw, who practises in Oliver, said Matthys de Vries of Cape Town is the right fit for the area because of his experience and qualifications.
We recruited these people pretty hard because they had the skill set we were looking for, he said.
A must for doctors working in this area is the ability and willingness to help run the emergency department at the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, Shaw said. Matthys is both ready and willing to take on such a responsibility.
That's part of the challenge is getting people¦ who have the culture of the emergency department through their training and have an interest in it, Shaw said. It's not a matter of just plugging someone in and having them do their duty. It's making it work well.rnHe added that emergency room doctors need to be trained in areas such as advanced cardiac life-support, trauma, toxicology and surgical emergencies.
Matthys has an extensive background in emergency room training from South Africa and the United Kingdom, Shaw said.
The added bonus for the community, Shaw said, is that Matthys' wife Ansunette is also a doctor.
We think it's a valuable resource to have his wife as well but we're not really sure how she's to going to niche in here, he said, adding that Ansunette is still working on her medical licensing and may not want to work full time in Osoyoos.
The de Vries visited the area last October and were given tours of local attractions and residential areas by the towns of Osoyoos and Oliver, Destination Osoyoos and local doctors. After checking out several other communities in the province, the de Vries decided on Osoyoos in December.
Matthys will begin working at Dr. Garnett Tarr's Osoyoos practice in four to five months, Shaw said.
The fact that Matthys chose Osoyoos says something of the character of the region and its people, Shaw said. Other communities courting the de Vries had larger financial incentives for doctors interested in their areas.
As a way to attract potential doctors to smaller, rural communities, the province offers a rural bonus for physicians on top of the money they receive from regular billings. The higher the rurality rating a community has, the higher the bonus.
The rating is based upon factors such as a community's distance from a hospital, its remoteness and how many doctors practise there.
For example, the town of Clearwater, north of Kamloops, which the de Vries also considered during their October visit, has a high rurality rating so its doctors get closer to 20 per cent on top of their regular fee-for-service billings.
Shaw said Osoyoos' rurality rating is lower and so doctors here get about four per cent extra.
We'd get the least amount of extra percentage on top of our regular billing, he said. Matthys will get the same billing percentage that we all get.rnBut, as an incentive to stay, Matthys will also receive a moving allowance, a rural retention bonus if he stays here for more than a year and money towards further medical education.
That's an incentive to stay and put down roots, Shaw said.
Cathy Stashyn, Interior Health's physician recruitment leader, said Matthys will also receive a retention flat of $3,700 and a $10,000 relocation incentive as bonuses for moving to a rural community such as Osoyoos.
That's provided he provides nine months of service, she said.
Stashyn added that the money comes from the provincial Health Ministry.
Interior Health is providing the de Vries with $5,000 for moving here and $3,500 as compensation for the couple's visit in October. Stashyn said the money comes out of Interior Health's discretionary budget and such compensation is not a given for every doctor moving to a rural community in B.C.
It's not an ongoing incentive, it's on a case-by-case basis, she said. Thankfully with the de Vries we were able to offer them some of that (money).rnDespite the victory of recruiting the de Vries, Shaw said the area's recruitment efforts are far from over.
Osoyoos and Oliver hope to recruit six more doctors in the next two years and Matthys is only a replacement for someone who is retiring or moving away.
The reality is we have a diminishing physician pool, Shaw said. We're not really bodies-ahead at this time.rnAnd even if the goal of recruiting six doctors is fulfilled, Shaw said there isn't much breathing room for physicians working in the community.
If we recruit all the physicians we need in the next two years we'd still need enhancement physicians, he said.
That's why some feel it would be best for Osoyoos and Oliver to separate themselves in the eyes of the provincial medical framework.
If we can separate ourselves and each community has seven or less physicians we would be eligible for the provincial locum program, Shaw said.
Right now Oliver has seven doctors and Osoyoos has six.
A locum is a relief doctor who could help out and fill in for doctors who are ill or on vacation at their practices or in their duties at the hospital.
Shaw said that since the towns are lumped together, however, they don't qualify for the program.
Separating the communities and becoming eligible for the locum program would also make Osoyoos more attractive to doctors considering this area as they could expect some backup, Shaw said.
Even though there's still much work to be done, landing the de Vries has given the area's doctor-recruitment effort some much-needed confidence as it works to deal with the physician shortage, Shaw said, adding that most of the doctors here have full practices.
We're ramping up our recruitment effort because we can see the writing is on the wall.
