After a two-and-a-half-year search, Sundridge and the townships of Strong and Joly are back to having two family physicians servicing the communities.
Sundridge Coun. Steve Hicks, who also chairs the Sundridge and District Medical Centre Committee, says the communities have secured the services of Dr. Marion Baechler, who is originally from the Huntsville area.
See: Doctor shortage. 'The health of people is deteriorating due to a minimal or utter lack of care'
Hicks says the committee has done a tremendous amount of work the last couple of years to fill the physician void.
But that work was also coupled with luck.
A short while back the committee posted online it was looking for a second doctor and Baechler, who has been practicing in New Zealand, saw it and responded.
Hicks says being from the Huntsville area means there's no culture shock for Baechler as she transitions to a rural community as opposed to someone with roots in a larger city.
Baechler has also worked with Sundridge's only other doctor, Sarah MacKinnon.
Hicks said the committee had “a great couple of conversations with Dr. Baechler”.
“After that, it was going to be up to her but we thought she would be a great fit,” Hicks said.
“We got lucky that Dr. Baechler saw our advertisement and chose us over the multitude of communities that are also looking for a physician.”
Hicks said this is the first time the medical centre committee has ever been involved in recruiting a physician.
“The previous (town) councils and committees never had to do this before,” he said.
“So not only was there no groundwork done in advance, we were doing it on the go, and on top of that we were doing it during COVID.”
Hicks said when the committee first began searching for a replacement doctor, it was told by the Ministry of Health that the process would take two to four years.
“It took us two-and-a-half years so we landed nicely within that target despite COVID,” Hicks said.
From the time Baechler first made contact with the committee, Hicks said it was a four to six-week process to secure her services.
Baechler has been a physician for quite a few years and Hicks believes she's chosen the Almaguin area to end her practice at some point in the future.
Because of her Huntsville connection, Hicks believes Baechler will live there and commute to Sundridge, which resolves the housing accommodations because finding a home in the Almaguin Highlands is tough right now.
Despite being back to a full physician compliment, Hicks is not ready to sit back.
He intends to talk to the medical centre committee about the need to continue attending physician recruitment drives.
He strongly believes keeping the Sundridge name out there among potential physicians is important and will push for the creation of a physician recruiting drive budget.
“I expect there will be pushback,” Hicks said.
“The question will be ‘why are you (trying to) recruit a physician when we don't have an open spot?’ But the fact is we need to be proactive. We can't wait for a physician to be gone before we start looking for a replacement.”
Hicks believes it's possible to attract a fractional physician because, in the course of looking for a physician these last two-plus years, he's learned many doctors are not interested in pursuing a full-time commitment.
Hicks said with Baechler on board, the workload eases for MacKinnon, and if the committee could secure a fractional physician that “would allow for more flexibility and more work-life balance for our three physicians.”
Additionally, Hicks believes having two doctors now on staff makes the task of attracting a fractional physician much easier.
MacKinnon has served the Sundridge area for about 20 years and Hicks said “we should be making a statue to her, she's a saint.”
During the physician shortage, Hicks said, MacKinnon “has worked countless hours and the work has been far more than what she should have been doing.”
“Now there's an opportunity to take a significant weight off Dr. MacKinnon and we're all breathing a sigh of relief,” Hicks said.
Hicks said with the area back to two physicians, it's a return to a normalized past.
But during that doctor shortage, Hicks said there are people who have not seen a physician for two-and-a-half years.
For the last couple of weeks, Sundridge and area residents have been dropping by the medical centre, picking up forms to become Baechler's patient.
“Hundreds of people have put their applications in and the next four weeks will be non-stop paperwork,” Hicks said.
There are roughly 2,500 residents spread among the three municipalities and Hicks says according to the Ministry of Health a physician can cover 1,000 to 1,200 patients.
Hicks says the public reaction to the area acquiring a second doctor is mostly favourable.
The one negative he's heard is from people asking why it took so long to find a replacement.
“But I don't think they understand all that has to happen to get a physician,” he said.
Hicks has said in the past there are doctors who simply have no interest in practicing in small communities, so already rural communities like Sundridge have a smaller talent pool to draw from.
And it's not the only community in this situation, since many small towns also face a doctor shortage and they too are trying to attract a physician from that same pool.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
