Physician recruiter Gwen Devereaux has helped the small community of Goderich, Ont., recruit doctors for the last 18 years and has been heralded as a success story for her trend-breaking results.
When she was first hired, the community was down to five doctors and many residents didn’t have a family doctor. In was a situation that is similar in many ways to the shortage being experienced by many rural communities in Nova Scotia today.
But she helped turn it around. From helping arrange a marriage to offering babysitting to visiting doctors, Devereaux has done everything she could to help recruit and retain doctors.
As a grassroots effort led by doctors at the Aberdeen Hospital seeks to help attract new doctors to practice in Pictou County, Devereaux shared what has worked for her. As someone with an interest in the health-care field, Deveraux has been following the concerns about Nova Scotia’s doctor shortage. She’s visited Pictou County in the past though and believes it could be an attractive place for doctors.
“You have a beautiful area,” she said. “I think you just need more exposure.”
One of the simplest ways to do that is through information provided online. When people search for your community or hospital, that information should be easily accessible, she says.
Another key is getting community involvement, she said. While other physicians and recruiters can tell doctors about the job, it’s local residents who can best tell about the community.
“Your community residents know why New Glasgow is an amazing place to live and raise a family," she said.
Devereaux is a firm believer in attending conferences for medical professionals and has even gone so far as to host conferences in the town. What’s key while attending those events, she said, is having all the information readily available that a potential doctor could be interested in. The recruiter should know about the community and the assets available, but also be able to provide a realistic expectation on what physicians could expect for a salary or workload.
She’s found in her own experience what’s attractive to many doctors is the option to work in a collaborative practice or a turn-key office, so they’re not having to set up a new office from scratch when they start.
“They don’t want to have to hire staff,” she said. “They don’t want to worry about doing billing.”
She believes certain assets such as high-speed internet or access to recreational facilities can also be selling features, particularly for people accustomed to a more urban lifestyle.
While some of these initiatives do require a time and financial commitment, Devereaux believes it’s well worth it. She said they’ve estimated that the economic impact on a community by each doctor added is around $1 million.
“Any amount of money could be spent to bring a physician in, and it’d be well worth it.”
If there’s one piece of advice that Devereux would give about what not to do it’s “don’t promise things that aren’t there.”
Doing it right, she’s sure that Pictou can mirror the success she’s seen in Goderich.
“Get yourself up front more,” she encourages.
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