Actually, Money IS the Answer

(Aired on May 10, 2010)

Small town medicine has been much in the news lately. A number of communities around Kamloops are searching for doctors to fill vacancies. It's not an easy problem to resolve, and it's not going to get any easier. The reality is, I don't think the problem will be resolved until the government realizes people aren't going to go to small towns unless they get paid, and get paid well. They aren't going to go to a place where they get burned out and are on call 24/7 and get relatively little compensation.

We tried years ago to regulate new doctors and force them to work in smaller communities when they first got out of school. Didn't work. We have talked about allowing immigrants to enter the country if they agreed to work in small communities. Not the answer. The only answer is to pay really good money to get four doctors in a small community like Chase or Ashcroft, and you might get someone to bite. The old "lifestyle" attraction just isn't there any more. To say "hey, we've got a great rural lifestyle here and you should come and raise your family in the country" just isn't the answer, especially if you don't get the pay and you're working yourself so hard you just can't enjoy the lifestyle.

If you pay enough, more than you would get coming to a larger center, you will attract doctors, and you have to be committed to that to make it work. Otherwise, medical service in small communities will continue to decline, and more and more patients will have to come to larger centers like Kamloops for treatment. Sad to say, but when it comes to rural health care, it really is all about the money.