Nova Scotia communities sharpen pitch for doctor recruits

What a difference a year makes.

One year after the provincial health authority came under harsh criticism for not attending the largest conference in the country on rural and remote medicine, the Nova Scotia Health Authority and communities from around the province are prominently featured at this year's event, which is being heldin Halifax and has attracted almost 800 people.

While much of the conference focuses on education, networking andrecruiting also playa huge role in the event. Medical students, residents and practising doctors are able to meet with representatives from communities across the country, all of whom are looking for doctors and each trying to stand out.

Emmanuel Comtois, the business manager for the Highlands Medical Clinic in Neils Harbour, N.S.,is attempting to woo three doctors to either come to the area on a permanent basis or at least attract locums. He's even got homemade oatcakes on a Cape Breton plate waiting for anyone willing to stop and talk.

"We feel that the best time to catch the physicians is when they're students or doing a residency rotation to expose them to the area and get them to come see and experience the Cabot Trail," he said.

It's especially important for communities to be represented, he said, because with so many people trying to attract doctors there needs to be a local touch to give people a sense of a place.

"The whole idea for us is to get them to the area. So come do a site visit, come see the hospital, come be a part of the community," said Comtois.

Martha Curtis and her husband, Dr. Donald Curtis, became a part of the community in Weymouth, N.S., in October. Now they're in Halifax trying to get others to join them.

'It's a beautiful area'

After years of working in interior B.C., Curtis said she and her husband turned their sights to Nova Scotia and then Weymouth in particular, a community that had struggled to get a doctor after the last physician there retired several years ago.

"The people are wonderful and it's a beautiful area [with] affordable living," said Curtis.

The clinic in Weymouth has room for two more doctors, and so Curtis and her husband are in Halifax trying to spread the gospel of Digby County.

Dr. Jeremy Hillyard, the site physician lead at St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish, said it makes a huge difference when doctors are able to meet representatives for communities with vacancies.

Having that direct contact and local knowledge is vital to building a relationship, because recruiting isn't an instantaneous process, he said.

Wooing recruits is 'an ongoing process'

"We're not going to sign many people up today," he said.

"But it's an ongoing process,relationship building. We're particularly keen to meet with the trainees and continue to meet them every year as they progress through their training and then eventually are looking for positions."

Important to provide support

While recruiting was on the minds of community representatives at the conference, Dr. Margaret Tromp, president of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, said the event's education component is also very important.

Rural medicine can be isolating, she said, and so conferences such as this one give people a chance to meet and talk with, and learn from other doctors facing similar challenges across the country.

"Actually meeting those people in person on a yearly basis is really important and we think it's really important for keeping people in rural practice to know that they're supported, to know that they can get appropriate education that's suitable to what they do in rural locations."