Stakeholders gather at rural health-care summit

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This article was published 22/09/2022 (1247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Physicians, medical staff and stakeholders spent Wednesday brainstorming ideas regarding Manitoba’s rural and northern health-care issues in Portage la Prairie at a special summit.

Organized by Doctors Manitoba and the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, the summit brought together around 100 people to discuss regional health-care needs and issues.

The number of people who attended was a pleasant surprise for Dr. Nichelle Desilets, a Neepawa-based physician and an executive on the board of directors for Doctors Manitoba. She said she expected 50 people at most to attend.

It showed everyone from councillors to businesses and medical professionals are all willing to work toward the same goal: better health care for all Manitobans.

“This is the first time we had stakeholders from communities, and they offered us some unique perspectives,” she said in an interview with the Sun. “This isn’t about specific geographic areas. Stakeholders brought their specific experiences to turn them into solutions. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel in every community but find common solutions we can apply.”

Physician retention isn’t a new problem, Desilets said. The COVID-19 pandemic made it worse as physicians became overworked, overwhelmed or transferred to other regions. One conclusion they came to is that previous recruitment and retention strategies are not working anymore.

Desilets said physicians in general do like to work in rural and northern areas because they enjoy the lifestyle and want to provide service in those communities. There have been a lot of changes in health care, from administrative burdens, to how medicine is practised and individual communities’ health-care needs fluctuating, explained Desilets.

Even the physicians’ needs change, compelling them to move closer to urban areas to meet those desires, whether it be their own families, income, hours, or their own health.

“We have to come up with strategies to keep both physicians and their patients happy,” Desilets said. “Financial incentives work, but we have to look at the physician as a whole person.”

Right now, they are searching for some quick solutions to address immediate needs but are taking the information shared at the summit to create more longer-term solutions as well, said Desilets.

She added it is good to see government and business reaching out to doctors to help improve the health-care system.

Health care is essential to the province’s future growth, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce president and CEO Chuck Davidson stated in a news release. Health-care investment is a top priority for its members, because research shows a community’s economic potential is supported by strong services.

“I was encouraged by today’s discussion at the summit, which included physicians, community and business leaders who care deeply that we all have access to efficient, quality care across the province,” Davidson said.

» kmckinley@brandonsun.com

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