Too many of us know the feeling: you — or your child — haven’t been well for days. It is time to see a doctor. Your anxiety starts to rise, wondering how early you have to get to the walk-in clinic and how long the wait will be. Will you get to see the doctor, or will you have to go back another day? Is this something you should head to the ER for?
Too many residents in the Sea to Sky Corridor don’t have a family doctor.
While our community gains shiny new places to live and offers stunning views and access to trails and nature, the truth of life here is far less attractive regarding the basics, like a go-to doctor.
(If you have a family doc, thank them for their service, stat!)
We aren’t alone, of course.
One million people in the province don’t have a primary care physician.
“Everyone deserves a family doctor,” says Dr. Renee Fernandez, executive director.
“The dramatically increasing costs of running a medical clinic are posing significant challenges for family doctors, in many ways similar to other small business owners. Staff salaries, leases and purchasing of equipment are all examples of out-of-pocket expenses a family doctor must incur to keep her practice open. Unlike other small businesses, however, family doctors cannot increase their fees to address these costs of providing care in their communities. In smaller communities, these challenges are often exacerbated even further.”
While the provincial government is shelling out” over four months to help doctors in B.C. keep their shingles up, and BC Family Doctors and are working with the provincial government on creating a new fee-for-service structure, in the Sea to Sky we aren’t likely to see big changes for some time yet.
MLA Jordan Sturdy says he has been working toward solutions on this issue for the last five years.
“The business model for family doctors, just — for the most part — doesn’t work in a corridor because it’s too expensive a place to operate,” he said.
Sturdy said that Pemberton has been able to service the community with doctors up to this point because of a few factors that, ideally, places like 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 could emulate.
“We have a publicly owned facility that has longitudinal care, that has a variety of other ancillary services like the lab is right there. They’ve got imaging there, and the ER is around the corner. Public health is in the same building,” he said of the Pemberton Medical Clinic.
But in 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, the math isn’t working to attract, keep and replace physicians.
Fixing the situation will require more than short-term band-aid solutions from our government. It is going to take major planning and changes that could take years.
Thus, perhaps those glossy new development websites and brochures that depict trails for miles and stunning visits that are drawing thousands to town, should also include a disclaimer: “Family doctor not included.”
