Smiths Falls facing doctor shortage as cannabis industry booms
Town plans to tap local industry for 'financial incentives' to help lure doctors
As physicians, hospital administrators and the municipality of Smiths Falls, Ont., all scramble to recruit family doctors to the town, one rapidly growing local industry may offer a possible solution.
Two physicians will be leaving the eastern Ontario community by September, forcing others to put off retirement until replacements can be found, said Dr. Cory Scott, who practices in Smiths Falls.
"I've closed my practice four or five times, because the volume was too much," said Scott, who specializes in family and addictions medicine and also works in the emergency department at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.
"I haven't accepted new patients since January because I filled up so fast. We're already short positions, and this is just adding insult to injury."
Scott was recruited to Smiths Falls himself less than a year ago, quickly building his own practice of 750 patients "from scratch."
By September, about 2,000 of the town's 10,000 residents will be without a family physician, and Scott figures the town will need to recruit four of five more doctors in the next two years.
"Which is kind of scary," said Scott.
Could Canopy help?
The town's population is also booming, due in part to the development of Canopy Growth Corporation, which currently employs 1,300 workers in the legal cannabis industry.
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"We've never seen demand for housing like we have right now," said Smiths Falls Mayor Shawn Pankow. "These people coming here want to make sure they have a family doctor."
Pankow said he wants to make the town attractive to new physician recruits, and Canopy could be involved with that process.
"It probably means, especially for newer doctors coming in, some money to help supplement their income as they grow into career earnings," said Pankow.
"That means we probably will look to the business community. Canopy being our biggest employer, we'd hope maybe they would want to play a role."
Possible conflict of interest
In fact, the expectation that Canopy could step in to help find solutions is shared by Paul Huras, CEO of the Southeast Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which includes Smiths Falls and Perth.
"It's a company with a lot of employees that they want healthy. And it's a company that I would think wants to show that they're a good corporate citizen," said Huras.
"This would be a fabulous way for them to do that."
But doctors working in Smiths Falls feel quite differently about this strategy, one Scott said could be perceived as a "clear conflict of interest."
"We don't want any perception that we would be influenced by [Canopy]," said Scott.
"From our perspective, if there is some way for the town to get funds to help us, great. But we don't want to be officially affiliated with anything like that."
Councillors, physicians and members of the LHIN all recently held a meeting to come up with recommendations. A recruitment strategy is still in the works, said Scott.