Quesnel, B.C.- It is no secret that  rural B.C.  has  challenges when it comes to recruitment and retention of health care professionals.  But if ever there  was a case on how to  overcome those challenges,  Quesnel is it.Faced with the prospect of losing four of its physicians by the end of 2015,   Northern Health worked in collaboration with the City of Quesnel, the Regional District,  the Province, and the physicians  already in that community to  find a solution for the hundreds of residents who  were losing their family doctors.

The Primary Care Clinic  opened in a temporary space (Avery Health Clinic)   at the beginning of February while renovations to the  new home for this clinic  are being  carried out.

As for recruitment efforts,  that task has been a success as well  says Northern Health CEO Cathy Ulrich “With the support of the community, the Chief of Staff  in that community and some of our staff,  we have successfully recruited  eleven family practice  physicians to Quesnel.”

Not all  of the new recruits are in  place just yet.   Ulrich  says some are in the process of getting upgrading  they need  because  they have come from other countries,  so it will depend on their successful completion of those programs “But over the course of 2016,  we are expecting to  have eight of those arrive in the community  and we have three other physicians , one arrived in 2015, and two are coming over February and March.  So  it   is looking much more optimistic than it was this time last year.”

The success  can be credited to collaboration says Ulrich “I really want to emphasize how valuable the collaboration with the Regional Hospital District,  the City, the physicians in the community and our staff.  That collaboration has made all the difference and  everybody worked from the same song sheet in the work that needed to be  undertaken in order to get here. So  really, it was  very positive from that perspective.”

In order to  recruit  physicians and to make sure there were Doctors for the Emergency Room at GR Baker Hospital,  the City of Quesnel  set aside  money to cover lease payments for two relief  physicians.  Local  businesses also got involved  donating two insured vehicles.

The effort included  assessing the needs of a potential  recruit’s family.

“The kind of work that was undertaken in Quesnel is the kind of  work that it takes to stabilize this kind of a situation” says Ulrich,  the challenge will be  to keep the momentum going.  “You can’t let your foot off the gas,  you’ve got to  keep on top of that and continue that collaboration into the future.”

Quesnel is not the only  community in the region to have  faced  this kind of  health care challenge. Ulrich says similar situations in Mackenzie and   Ft. St James also  saw  similar  positive  results  when  everyone worked together “The same kind of characteristics were in place in terms of the partnership with   the community, community leaders,  the municipality,  sometimes the Regional  Hospital District played a role, Northern Health and the physicians themselves  in the community   have been part of the process.”

“I also believe the Northern Medical program, over time, is making a difference” says Ulrich “For example, in Mackenzie,  the recruits to Mackenzie have  been Northern Medical Program graduates.”  She says there is a “steady group” of Northern Medical program graduates coming on stream, and   the region is also starting  to see specialists return to the  region now that they have completed that extra training.

But for now,  the  focus is on  the Primary Care Clinic in Quesnel, “We don’t have an exact date on when the move will happen from the temporary space ( from the Avery Health Clinic)  to  the new  facility” says Ulrich “but it will be in the spring of this year.”