In a report released at the beginning of this year, the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) revealed that rural Ontarians are losing health care providers at a rate of 12 per cent per year—four times faster than urban centres. Approximately 525,000 rural residents lack a primary care provider. Sixty-five per cent of rural municipalities don’t have access to local walk-in clinics. And between 2022 and 2023, there were more than 600 temporary emergency department closures across rural Ontario.
Thankfully, there are some bright spots. Both the city of Peterborough and the municipality of Kawartha Lakes have recently announced initiatives aimed at improving health care services for residents.
Peterborough launches Physician Recruitment Action Plan
On April 2, Peterborough’s city council adopted a new pilot action plan aimed at recruiting family physicians to the area. According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, 32,000 people in the Peterborough area don’t have a family doctor. And that number’s expected to grow to 63,000 by 2026.
The Physician Recruitment Action Plan intends to combat this through a series of family physician incentives. The city has committed $580,000 towards the plan.
The incentives include the continuation of a previously introduced $15,000 bonus over three years for family physicians who start new practices in the Peterborough area, and a “Whole of Village” program that would engage local physicians, organizations, and businesses as part of the recruitment effort. The “Whole of Village” program has yet to be finalized, but some of the proposed incentives include financial bonuses for physicians based on their number of patients; financial bonuses for local physicians who recruit new physicians to the area; and a financial bonus for Peterborough students attending medical school elsewhere if they agree to practice in Peterborough upon graduation.
The city did not respond to comment on how many doctors its managed to recruit so far, but the plan is expected to run until December 31, 2025.
Kawartha Lakes to open new wellness centre
Back in July of 2023, the municipality of Kawartha Lakes started construction on its new Summit Wellness Centre. Intended as a health care hub for the northern areas of Kawartha Lakes, the Summit Wellness Centre is expected to include more doctors with after-hours care, dental, physio, chiropractors, pain management, a pharmacy, mental health supports, and more. The centre is being constructed in Coboconk’s historic train station off Hwy 35.
It’s a $16 million project, $1 million of which was raised by the community through 1,500 donors. “This is truly a community-driven project. The community identified the need for the services that will be housed in the new building and came forward with strong support to help make it happen through donations, volunteer time, and community partnerships that are focused on planning for service delivery when the doors open,” said Ian Forster, the chairperson of the Coboconk, Norland, and Area Chamber of Commerce, in a statement.
The Summit Wellness Centre is expected to open in the spring of 2025.
New paramedic station to be built in Lindsay
In the southern end of Kawartha Lakes, the municipality announced that it plans to build a new paramedic headquarters in Lindsay, Ont. Kawartha Lakes recently negotiated a lease agreement with the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) to allow it to build the new headquarters on the same property as the Lindsay Adult and Alternative Education Centre on 230 Angeline Street South. Kawartha Lakes is now just waiting for approval from city council and the Ministry of Education.
“The new Paramedic Headquarters and Fleet Centre is a critical infrastructure project designed to address the rapidly increasing demand for emergency medical services in the municipality. As our population continues to grow, the facility will ensure timely and efficient paramedic care for our residents,” the municipality said in a statement.
According to the municipality, Lindsay’s population (approximately 22,000) is projected to double by 2031, and paramedic service demand in Kawartha Lakes is anticipated to increase by 48 per cent by 2034.
The new headquarters will consolidate several older facilities, including the old headquarters and two response stations in Lindsay, storage facilities in Fenelon Falls and Cambray, and a community paramedic station in Oakwood. The new facility will include dedicated spaces for paramedic response, fleet storage, logistics, vehicle repairs, training, community paramedicine, and administration.
The reasoning behind closing the other facilities is that many of the buildings are outdated with limited space, raising health and safety concerns. Plus, the municipality said that having fragmented services across Kawartha Lakes causes operational inefficiencies and increased costs.
It’s estimated that the new headquarters will cost $50 million to build with construction starting in the spring of 2025.
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