While Humboldt's doctors are kept running, there's another group in the community that's working to ease their workload by finding more physicians to work here.
Humboldt's Community Doctor Recruitment and Retention Group (CDRRG) was put together after Dr. Carrie Levick and Dr. Jacquie Bourgeois approached the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC), asking for help in recruiting doctors to Humboldt.
"The Chamber immediately felt that this was an area of concern as it affects employee attraction and retention when you have unavailability of family doctors in a community," noted DonnaLyn Thorsteinson, HDCC executive director and chair of the CDRRG.
One call to Mayor Malcolm Eaton and he agreed not only that the city should be a part of this committee but that he would join himself, along with two members of city staff.
"We invited the City and our Chamber membership to join us as well as a few key organizations, and formed this group," noted Thorsteinson.
The official mission of the CDRRG is to aid in the recruitment of doctors to the City of Humboldt by promoting the community as a great place to live, work and play as well as to ensure retention of these doctors through communication and follow-up.
"Our group is diverse and can provide potential Humboldt doctors and their families with information about our community depending on their needs," Thorsteinson said. "We feel that effective communication between all parties involved in this process is a key factor in the recruiting of physicians to our city. We would welcome the opportunity to be involved in the recruitment process whenever possible and appropriate."
So far, the group has met four times and has a fifth meeting scheduled for the beginning of June.
"Communication seems to be one of the key issues, between the community, the Humboldt Clinic, the Saskatoon Health Region and the (Saskatchewan) Physician Recruitment Agency, so all organizations have been invited to discuss how we can better work together on recruitment and retention of doctors in our city," Thorsteinson noted.
Mayor Eaton spoke about the CDRRG at a recent HDCC luncheon.
"How can we get a doctor here?" is the question this group is asking, Eaton said.
If there is one answer to that question, they have not found it, he added.
"It's going to be a number of things," Eaton believes.
Many communities are presently trying to attract doctors, including Lanigan and Wakaw.
"Communities are bidding against one another," he said.
"We're not in the bidding game. Will we get there someday? Maybe. But we feel we are well positioned to attract doctors. We just have to find the magic ingredients," Eaton said.
"We are confident that by working together, we can attract and retain doctors to our community," Thorsteinson stated.
