Castlegar has seven more doctors now than it did when the city and neighbouring areas hired a recruiter in 2014 to convince prospective physicians to give the city a chance.
“We have 17 doctors and counting,” recruiter Cheryl Gnyp told city council this week. “That is more than we’ve ever had.”
Gnyp said that while she has recruited for many professions, finding doctors “is very nuanced.” Castlegar, along with Creston, is one of only two communities in Interior Health to employ a recruiter.
“We are looked at as the model of success and kind of a leading edge,” said Gnyp, who added that the health authority has asked for her help in creating a video on recruiting doctors to rural areas. A consultant has also approached her for her expertise so that it can be applied to Northern Health.
“We are at a point where we are not closing clinics,” Gnyp said. “Other communities have. We’re nowhere near that. One of the clinics has gone through all of their wait lists and are now taking patients from the general registry. Those are all really great things for us.”
She says the No. 1 reason doctors come to the West Kootenay is because they love the outdoors. However, many other areas also have great recreational opportunities, so it is still a challenge to rise above the rest.
She told council that while she has no data on why physicians might pass the community over, sometimes they have left because they or their spouse missed living in a big city. Or, in one case, missed surfing.
As far as challenges to her efforts, she pointed to the Castlegar airport’s reputation as being unreliable, and to the city’s appearance in some places, although she said the work of Communities in Bloom has helped “tremendously” when she is showing it off.
She also said that due to COVID-19, she hasn’t been able to attend conferences, so has focused on relationship-building.
‘Dumpy and industrial’
The 17 doctors are not, however, all full-time general practitioners. Council heard that some might spend three days working in a clinic, and the other two days in obstetrics, long-term care, emergency, or oncology.
Dr. David Larocque said medicine is much more complex than it used to be, so doctors cannot carry as large a patient load. Where each might have once been responsible for 1,500 patients, now it’s more like 800 to 1,000 each. He estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 Castlegar residents don’t have a GP.
“Give me two more full-time GPs, I think you’d probably cover it,” he said. “Does any community in BC let alone the country have that? I don’t think so.”
Of the 17 doctors who serve Castlegar, only three actually live in the city, while the rest live in the surrounding rural areas, the Slocan Valley, Nelson, and Rossland.
While Gnyp had no information on why that is, Larocque said from his informal inquiries, it can be summed up this way: “Because Castlegar is kind of dumpy and industrial.”
Rossland has its ski hill and outdoor vibe while Nelson is known for its arts scene, but Castlegar suffers from a reputation as a less desirable place to live, Larocque said.
“I’m trying not to be insulting,” Larocque said, adding that the city is “way better than when I first came here.” He pointed to Millennium Park, where he goes almost every day, as an example of an amenity that helps sell the town.
“I do see a lot of cool things happening here, but we have some dumpy, industrial space we should focus on putting things on.”
The Celgar pulp mill, he added, has “done a fantastic job of improving things, aside from the odd whiff.”
‘Important position’
Dr. Keith Merritt, who arrived in Castlegar in 1976, complimented city council for hiring Gnyp in the first place.
“This position she holds is extremely important in terms of the maintenance of your medical personal in this community,” he said.
“Having somebody in the position who gets to know the community and has the time to devote to this important topic has been invaluable. Your continued support for Cheryl, who is putting a face to the community over time while the rest of us are coming and going, is invaluable.”
Merritt recalled doctors used to do their own recruiting, and he chose Castlegar over Trail and Kamloops because of a phone call from the late Dr. Roy Ward.
“He told me about this place and I was so enthralled that someone would phone me long distance in the ’70s in Ontario that I [decided] to come.”
