A new $1.8-million initiative offering $60,000 “installation grants” aims to bring up to 30 new doctors to Timmins over the next three years as the city struggles with a shortage of both family doctors and specialists.
“Most towns and cities are offering recruitment money to have the physicians settle, set up an office, pay off loans and things like that. So certainly not something unique to Timmins, but it is kind of what we need to do to recruit any physicians right now,” said Dr. Lesley Griffiths, a family physician already working in the northern Ontario city.
The Timmins Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee, a community-based committee that the city co-leads, announced it had reached its fundraising goal after a $600,000 donation from mining company Agnico Eagle on Tuesday.
The city and Timmins and District Hospital have each committed $200,000 per year for three years, with the $60,000 installation grant per physician funded equally by all three partners.
“The struggle with primary care right now is that there’s overhead associated with that, so offsetting some of those costs will make primary care more attractive,” Griffiths said.
“It’s a lot easier for people to work in a hospital setting where they don’t have to cover overhead and staffing and things like that. So we want people to set up shop in town and open a primary care practice.”
Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau said the goal is to recruit 10 new physicians per year over the next three years.
“What’s nice about this grant program is that it’s flexible, and so the physician recruits could choose to apply it however they want. If they want to put it towards their student loans, they could do that. If they want to use it as a down payment for a home, they could do that or put it into a community practice,” Boileau said.
“It’s just to help them get a little bit of a leg up as they relocate into Timmins, but recognizing that it won’t cover all of the expenses that come with relocating.”
Current shortage
Corey Kroupa, the physician recruiter for the Timmins hospital, said the city of 44,000 is facing a shortage of around 45 doctors.
“So what that entails is between 15 to 20 family physicians and 25 specialists,” he explained.
He stressed the importance of attracting medical students and residents by providing a positive experience with the goal of encouraging them to return and practice as physicians in Timmins after completing their training.
“We need to make sure that we’re showing potential physicians who are students, residents or practicing, that we value them, that we care and that we want to make sure that we’re able to help them and their families establish themselves in Timmins and give ourselves an upper hand.”
