Fort St James, B.C. – Excellent news in the health care field in Fort St. James. Northern Health is announcing the successful recruitment of three physicians to Fort St. James. One of these doctors will work part-time starting in October 2012, and two will commence full–time work in early 2013.

 

In addition to the three physicians who have agreed to come to Fort St. James, two more site visits with doctors will take place over the next two weeks.

 

“The recruitment campaign was a true partnership between Northern Health and the community. The welcome these physicians received from the community was a large factor in their decision to accept this offer and relocate to Fort St James.  This success shows that we can achieve our goals by working together,” said Michael McMillan, Northern Health chief operating officer for the northern interior health service delivery area.

 

Northern Health’s medical administration team launched a targeted recruitment campaign for Fort St. James in February. N.H.’s medical administration team worked with a consultant to bring an additional focus on recruiting doctors to this community and purchased access to databases that connected the organization with over 14,000 doctors in Canada, the USA, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. Combined with other recruitment activities, this lead to interest from these three physicians to visit Fort St. James and make the decision to relocate to the community.

 

Over the past five months, the emergency department at Stuart Lake Hospital has experienced temporary closures due to a lack of physicians in the community. The arrival of these three doctors in the next six months will help ensure the sustainability of the emergency department in Fort St. James.

 

Northern Health has secured locum coverage for the emergency department for nine days in the month of July.