Doctor Recruitment
Healthcare Is a Provincial Responsibility But That Doesn’t Mean Municipalities Have No Role
Twenty years ago, when I was first running for Smiths Falls council, one issue kept coming up at the doors: people were losing access to family doctors. They were becoming what we now commonly call “orphaned patients.”
This wasn't an issue that was unique to Smiths Falls. I had lived in a number of municipalities across Ontario, and doctor recruitment had been a conversation in virtually every one of them. But in 2006, it was becoming increasingly clear to me that Smiths Falls and the surrounding area needed to take the issue seriously.
At the time, I worked in banking and had a number of healthcare professionals in my portfolio. Rather than assume I understood the problem, I started asking questions. I met with doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, hospital staff and healthcare administrators. I wanted to understand why we were losing access to primary care and, more importantly, what a municipality could realistically do about it.
One thing became clear very quickly.
Healthcare may be a provincial responsibility, but municipalities can still play an important role.
The communities that appeared to be having success attracting physicians, supporting clinics and strengthening their hospitals understood that recruitment required a team approach. Municipal government could help bring together healthcare professionals, hospitals, developers, economic development officials and representatives from the provincial and federal governments.
So when I was elected to Smiths Falls council, I asked that doctor recruitment be placed on the agenda of my first council meeting. My council colleagues had heard the same concerns during the election campaign and supported my suggestion of the creation of a doctor recruitment task force. Once the local newspapers reported the story, my phone started ringing.
Residents wanted to tell me about their experiences. Some had ideas. Others simply wanted someone to understand what it was like to live without reliable access to primary care.
We listened. We brought healthcare providers into the discussion. I also arranged a meeting involving elected representatives from surrounding municipalities because this was never simply a Smiths Falls problem. Patients, doctors, hospitals and healthcare services don't stop at municipal boundaries. Nearly everyone we spoke with came back to the same conclusion:
If we were going to make progress, we had to work together.
Healthcare Is Also Economic Development
Then our community was dealt another enormous challenge. Hershey announced it was closing its Smiths Falls operation. Suddenly, we weren't only thinking about healthcare from the perspective of existing patients. We were confronting a much larger question about the future of our community. How do you attract new residents, professionals, employers and investment to a community if people aren't confident they will have access to healthcare?
Healthcare became part of our economic development strategy.
Over the following years, the Town worked with the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital as it pursued redevelopment. Healthcare professionals had told us that the quality and stability of the local hospital were important considerations for physicians deciding where to establish their practices. We worked with developers and property owners to identify potential locations for physicians and clinics. We reached out to provincial and federal representatives and agencies. We pursued funding opportunities. And we incorporated physician recruitment and healthcare into the broader discussion about Smiths Falls' economic future.
Did we make progress?
Absolutely.
Over that period, Smiths Falls welcomed a number of doctors and specialists.
Rideau Community Health Services expanded into Smiths Falls and assumed the patient roster of a retiring physician. Later came Cornelia Court Family Medicine, which today lists six physicians serving the community. We also saw the establishment of the Smiths Falls Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic. More recently, the province provided funding to Rideau Community Health Services to undertake the planning work associated with the proposed Smiths Falls Integrated Health and Social Services Hub. That preliminary work has now been completed, and I recently met with provincial representatives to continue advocating for the project and to encourage the next steps.
There is still much more work to do.
Twenty Years Later, the Lesson Hasn't Changed
Lately, I have again been hearing from residents who are losing access to a family doctor. That concerns me. But it also reinforces something I learned 20 years ago: this isn't a problem that gets “solved” once and then disappears.
Doctors retire. Practices change. Populations age and grow. Healthcare delivery models evolve. Provincial policies change. New pressures emerge. A community must constantly adapt.
I served on Smiths Falls council for 12 years, and throughout that period our municipal leadership treated healthcare as an important community priority. I have also observed over the last 8 years that the town leadership has kept a focus on improving healthcare. I believe Smiths Falls is lightyears ahead of where we were 20 years ago.
But is everything perfect?
No.
Will we have to continue working on healthcare access?
Yes.
Do we need to keep listening to residents who are struggling to find care?
Absolutely.
And does any mayor, councillor or individual have a magic solution that can permanently fix a healthcare system as complex as ours?
No.
I certainly didn't solve the problem single-handedly 20 years ago, and I would never pretend that I did. What we accomplished came from people working together — municipal councils, healthcare professionals, hospital leadership, provincial representatives, community organizations, developers, businesspeople and, most importantly, residents who told us what they needed. That experience taught me something about leadership that has stayed with me ever since. You don't have to control something to help make it better.
When residents are struggling, municipal leaders shouldn't simply point to another level of government and say, “That's their responsibility.”
Our responsibility is to ask what we can do.
1. We can bring people together.
2. We can advocate.
3. We can help remove obstacles.
4. We can make healthcare part of our economic development planning.
6. We can support the organizations and professionals doing the work.
7. And, above all, we can listen.
Twenty years ago, Smiths Falls faced a serious healthcare challenge and we responded by bringing people together and getting to work. Today, the challenges may be different, but I believe the approach remains the same. Listen. Collaborate. Advocate. Act.
And if I am given the privilege of serving as Mayor of Smiths Falls, access to healthcare will once again be a priority for me — not because I believe a mayor can solve Ontario's healthcare challenges alone, but because I know from experience what can happen when municipal leadership brings the right people together and refuses to accept that there is nothing we can do.
There is always something we can do. And together, we will.
Building the Next Chapter Together
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