Tough choices for families after 4 of 5 doctors leave Warman, Sask.
Carissa Agarand says her young family may have to commute to Saskatoon
Carissa Agarand went with her baby to see her doctor in Warman, Sask. on Tuesday, only to find out she didn't have one anymore.
"I was like 'are you kidding me'?" she said.
By April the city will have only one doctor seeing patients in the city of 10,000 people, after its four other doctors will have left and moved on to other endeavours.
Agarand said she had previously been on a five-month wait list to get this doctor.
"It was pretty frustrating because having a little guy, and you finally get a family doctor, you don't want to be having to find a new one, you want to have something consistent," she said.
"It kind of leaves me with questions as to why they are leaving."
Warman is about 24 kilometres north-east of Saskatoon.
Agarand said her options are long wait times in a clinic or packing her family in a vehicle to go to a physician in Saskatoon.
"It's kind of shocking but not at the same time. I have lived in Warman for eight years so I've used the clinic," she said.
"The few experiences that I have had, it doesn't really surprise me that they are leaving. At the same time, it is kind of shocking that it's four all at the same time that are going."
As a mom and with another child on the way, Boyenko said they are considering continuing to see their doctor, even though he moved to Rosthern, Sask., which is about 45 kilometres northeast.
"This all just happened today. It's a big decision to make," she said.
The City of Warman said they are forming a recruitment and attraction committee to recruit doctors and keep them or longer periods of time.
Searching for more staff
The loss of doctors also presents a challenge to Dr. Madhuri Singh, the owner of Warman's medical clinic.
She said the problem is that medical graduates are not interested in taking calls around the clock.
"They don't want to become family doctors. They want to work in a walk-in clinic where they just go write prescriptions go home, 'five o'clock I'm done, don't bother me,'" she said. "That is what's changing the profession big time."
She said she is hoping to find more doctors soon, but the clinic's hours may be reduced until then.
"I am working very hard. There's no way I can afford to shut the clinic down. No way," she said.
Singh said she has asked Warman's city council for help recruiting doctors but up until now the answer was always no.