MINDEMOYA—It appears that a full-time doctor, nurse and health services recruiter is going to be in place solely for Manitoulin Island, instead of the Island hospitals and communities sharing costs for a recruiter with the North Shore Health Network (NSHN).
“Paula Fields (president and chief executive officer of Manitoulin Health Centre) was going to be here tonight to explain the doctor recruitment process to replace the last recruiter, but she was unable to attend,” said Al MacNevin, mayor of the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI) at a Manitoulin Municipal Association (MMA) meeting last week. “Originally she had talked about hiring a part-time recruiter for Manitoulin Island.”
However, “Paula has met with the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo M’Nising (UCCMM) and Noojmowin Teg Health Centre representatives as well as some individual First Nation communities and she is confident they will be able to put in place a five-year commitment for funds, sharing in the costs with the hospitals and municipalities to help hire a full-time doctor recruiter just for Manitoulin. This is very positive news and wouldn’t be possible without the First Nations support.”
Ms. Fields, “had asked me to provide this information this evening and she will provide an update on the process at the next (MMA) meeting,” said Mayor MacNevin. “She is hoping that by then there will be a 100 percent commitment from the First Nation communities to help with funding to hire a full-time doctor recruiter for Manitoulin.”
“How long have we (Manitoulin) been without a recruiter?” asked Gore Bay town councillor Dan Osborne.
Mayor MacNevin said there hasn’t been a recruiter in place for the past several months.
“Over the last number of years, all our municipalities and the Island hospitals and family health teams and clinics have helped support the recruiter program.” He pointed out over the last number of years the recruiter program has been successful in recruiting locum doctors for instance to help in the emergency departments at the two Island hospitals and in general practice.
“We have been fortunate so far that our hospital emergency rooms have been staffed without any closures thanks to the dedicated staff in place,” said Mayor MacNevin. “Having a full-time recruiter for the Island is a great idea,” he stated. “Communities across Canada have been struggling to find doctors and nurses.”
Mr. MacNevin added that Ms. Fields has visited three or four Island First Nations and will be visiting others in the coming days.
