Editor's note:
Reverend Ted Harrison writes in response to a previous letter The northern Family Physician: A Rare and Fantastic Breed.
Dear Editor:
It was with genuine fondness and admiration that I read the recent letter to the editor by local family doctor Sheryl Riley (“The northern Family Physician: A Rare and Fantastic Breed,” June 10th). Dr. Riley’s evident love of North Bay’s wonderful community absolutely shone through!
However, in her positivity and heartfelt humility, I believe that Dr. Riley understated the severity of the demand on our hard-pressed local physicians. Like the unwitting frog in water coming to a boil, we have somehow normalized an environment in which our doctors are subjected to absolutely unsustainable levels of stress.
Please understand that we are presently nearing the boiling point.
Personally and professionally, I am aware of so many of the stresses that plague our physicians. Our long-running shortage of doctors leaves the remaining physicians to bear a terrible workload. It’s exacerbated for those family physicians who are expected to provide care to hospital patients who do not otherwise have their own doctor.
In comparably sized communities, other hospitals employ a staff of doctors specifically dedicated to providing this care-- but in North Bay, we continue to expect that additional burden from family doctors who already have their own full caseloads. This was never a realistic approach-- a fact that needs urgent recognition by our hospital, our city, and our province.
I share Dr. Riley’s unabashed love and pride in the North Bay community. There is no place I would rather live, contribute, and raise my family. We are blessed with a rich community committed to caring for one another. But to maintain our vibrancy and viability we desperately need to ensure that our health care system does not implode because we have burned out our physicians. Their vitality ensures the health of our wider community.
Reverend Ted Harrison
Trinity United Church, North Bay.
