Attracting doctors and clinics discussed at town council

Getting more medical services and doctors in Amherstburg remains a priority for town council and many of its residents.

Town council is pledging to work with health professionals in the area, residents and the province so that more doctors and nurses come to town.

Representatives of the Windsor-Essex Ontario Health Team (WEOHT), which includes local health organizations like the Amherstburg Family Health Team (AFHT) among a large roster of health care partners, attended town council Monday night where they went over their efforts to attract physicians to the region. Those representatives included Dr. Ken Blanchette, WEOHT CEO Joyce Zuk and Dr. Tim O’Callahan, with other professionals joining them either as part of the delegation or in the council chambers.

The WEOHT is comprised of over 40 healthcare organizations, community support services, hospitals, home and community care providers, lived experience partners and primary care providers providing services in urban and rural settings, Blanchette noted.

Zuk said their data shows 15 total primary care practitioners in Amherstburg, with 12 being primary care physicians and three rostering nurse practitioners. There are also two walk-in clinics, she said. Statistics shared by Zuk showed 7.9 per cent of Amherstburg residents not attached to primary care. That compares to 7.8 per cent in Essex, 16.3 per cent in Kingsville, 23 per cent in Leamington, 9.7 per cent in Lakeshore, 7.2 per cent in Tecumseh, 8.3 per cent in LaSalle and 12. 4 per cent in Windsor.

The goal is to have everyone attached to a primary healthcare provider by 2029, Zuk added.

“We’ve been addressing this as a municipality for a long time,” said Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb. “How can we help you help us?”

Blanchette said they are happy to appear before any municipal council on the matter. He said it is a big job that can’t be solved overnight but called for continued collaboration.

“We are on top of this,” he said. “We are working on this very hard

Zuk added Windsor-Essex County “has done a lot of the heavy lifting,” citing a satellite medical school and three hospitals in the region. She also pointed out a nurse practitioner program at the University of Windsor. 

Councillor Diane Pouget said Amherstburg is “growing by leaps and bounds” and wanted to ensure there were enough medical professionals to cover that growth. She said her original motion to get more information was in no way intended to criticize current doctors and healthcare providers, but to bring in more. She said some doctors are nearing retirement age, and that puts a strain on other doctors. 

Councillor Peter Courtney called for further education for residents, and that there can be a “misuse” of hospitals for when they go for minor ailments. Blanchette added there is a misnomer that people can call an ambulance so they can get in and be seen, but cautioned against doing that.

Mayor Michael Prue added the new mega-hospital will be built and wondered if professionals coming to practice there could also set up shop in other area municipalities. Zuk said the Fanscy Family Hospital will be an “incredible boost” to the area and believed many will come and practice and research there.

Amherstburg resident Lynn Sinasac questioned some of the numbers WEOHT members presented, noting a local walk-in clinic has closed. She wants to see another walk-in clinic come to town, noting many only take patients already rostered to them.

Sinasac added she regularly sees residents post on social media looking for places to go after hours or for X-rays. Supplying healthcare isn’t just one level of government’s responsibility, she added.

“It takes a village,” said Sinasac.

Requests to have Dr. Neville Crane and local resident Alison Baldwin were turned down as a motion to allow them to speak lost. The procedural bylaw states the vote must be unanimous, but Gibb and Councillor Linden Crain were opposed.

Crain said he was interested in the topic but voted against it, as he noted he regularly does, because people at home don’t have the same right to speak and also noted accessibility concerns. Gibb said he would love to hear people speak, but there was no prior notice and there were rules to be followed by the town and that “we want everyone else to follow the law.” 

Councillor Don McArthur said Crane and Baldwin wanted to speak to a matter on the agenda, noting Baldwin was passionate about the topic and Crane is knowlegable about it as well. While there are rules to follow, McArthur stating they would still be following the rules if they allowed them to speak. Pouget and Courtney also voted in favour of allowing them to talk.

Baldwin shared her notes with local media, and they showed she was in support of investing municipal tax dollars into recruiting and retaining family physicians.

“Local access to primary care is essential to a safe and healthy community. Residents with family doctors or nurse practitioners nearby receive preventative care, early diagnosis, and management of chronic illness. This reduces unnecessary emergency visits and prevents minor health concerns from becoming major medical emergencies,” Baldwin said in her notes. “Preventative care is also financially responsible governance. Treating conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, infections or injuries early is far less costly than advanced complications in hospitals, which ultimately affects all taxpayers.”

Baldwin also stated adequate services makes Amherstburg more competitive and can help promote the town as a municipality for economic development, tourism and attracting new residents.

“The Province of Ontario also has a responsibility,” her notes read. “The Primary Care Action Plan has committed more than $2.1 billion to connect Ontarians to a family doctor or primary care team, with hundreds of millions more to support clinic expansion and recruitment, including $235 million in 2025 to expand team-based care in underserved areas.”

Baldwin urged Amherstburg to establish a physician recruitment and retention program, pursue a walk-in clinic and urgent care, work with provincial and regional partners on funding for clinic space, healthcare professionals and diagnostic services and seek funding from the province for that.

 A report from CAO Valerie Critchley added that the cost of a physician recruiter was shared in the past by the City of Windsor and County of Essex, with work being successful “particularly with the attraction of specialists to the area.” She noted the satellite medical scholl, the Schulich School of Medicine, opened. 

Critchley said the recruitment program ended in 2022 and since then, WEOHT “has been advocating locally regarding primary care practitioner recruitment. Particularly, as the research reveals that primary care physicians often remain in the communities in which they train, WEOHT has been advocating to the University to encourage the admission of local Windsor-Essex County students to the medical program and the establishment of a Primary Care Residency Program in coordination with the Windsor Regional Hospital network. To this end, WEOHT has also been working with the three physician recruiters that work on behalf of our three area hospitals. This is a particularly important piece as most primary care physicians also work in the hospitals doing patient rounds etc.”Critchley’s report also noted the Healthcare Connect program initiated by the province to connect individuals to primary care.

“Specific to the Town of Amherstburg, the WEOHT has advised that the AFHT has made an application to the Province for primary care expansion funding which, if successful, will broaden primary care in Amherstburg in two ways. Firstly, it will allow more patients to be rostered within the AFHT and, secondly, it would provide resources to allow for the expansion of AFHT Clinic Hours,” the report added.

The CAO recommended that physician recruitment be done in coordination with the Amherstburg Family Health Team and WEOHT.

“Administration asked the representatives of WEOHT and WECHU what more the municipality can do to assist with primary care practitioner recruitment in the Amherstburg area. The answer, simply put, is that the best thing Amherstburg can do in this realm is to build an attractive community in which practitioners want to work, live and play. Primary care practitioners are drawn to communities with modern recreational, cultural, entertainment oriented and educational amenities and services. In this regard, the considerable work that council has done to build and refresh parks and recreational facilities, encourage the development of diverse businesses and services and promote community festivals and events has placed Amherstburg in an excellent position,” Critchley’s report said.

Attracting doctors and clinics discussed at town council

By Ron Giofu