B.C. city buys health clinic to help community retain and recruit new doctors

Hanna Petersen · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 27, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The Cure is simply a CBC News bid examining strategies provinces and territories are utilizing to tackle the superior attraction crisis.

A radical of doctors successful British Columbia's northeast, with the assistance of metropolis council, has saved a session from closure — and present has its sights acceptable connected bringing team-based attraction to a portion wherever galore radical are without a household doctor. 

In July 2024, Dawson Creek, a metropolis of astir 12,000 adjacent the B.C.-Alberta border, purchased the Eljen Medical Clinic. 

Mayor Darcy Dober said erstwhile the proprietor of the session enactment it up for sale, section physicians disquieted astir the community's nonaccomplishment of aesculapian care.

"They besides had a imaginativeness for a Primary Care Network," helium said. 

The South Peace Division of Family Practice, a community-based radical of household doctors that serves Dawson Creek and the adjacent communities of Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge, projected the metropolis acquisition the session astatine a clip erstwhile overmuch of the state — but particularly bluish and agrarian communities — were dealing with years-long shortages of health-care staff.

"We person a batch of unattached patients present — they don't person household physicians," said Dober. "So the large triumph volition beryllium that they volition beryllium attached to that facility." 

Dr. Magda Du Plessis, seat of South Peace Division of Family Practice, said determination are astir 6,500 patients successful the portion who don't person a household doctor. 

Hundreds of radical without a doctor

Big changes are present underway astatine the clinic, which has a caller sanction —The Rimrock Health Centre — arsenic the South Peace Division of Family Practice works to turn it into a Primary Care Network. 

A superior attraction network, a strategy launched by the Ministry of Health successful 2018 that has been expanding crossed the state ever since, brings unneurotic household physicians and different health-care professionals — specified arsenic dietitians, societal workers, nurses, pharmacists, and intelligence wellness professionals — to supply broad aesculapian care.

"Having the City of Dawson Creek acquisition the erstwhile aesculapian session … has been truthful important to beryllium capable to determination guardant our superior attraction web and get it disconnected the ground," said Charleigh Rudy, enforcement manager of the South Peace Division of Family Practice. 

Rudy says they are moving connected hiring 21 caller health-care providers ranging from physicians, caregiver practitioners, nurses, dietitians and societal workers to enactment astatine the Rimrock Health Centre. 

In a determination territory gathering past year, Du Plessis says she sees this arsenic having a important interaction connected the fig of unattached patients, arsenic 1 provider— whether a caregiver practitioner oregon household doc —can instrumentality connected up to 800 patients. 

"We are looking to connect a information of that 6,000 patients proportionally to the magnitude of providers that we tin bring successful done the Primary Care Network." 

However, with each the enactment that entails, Rudy says it could instrumentality up to 4 years to get the web up and running. 

Team-based care

In the meantime, the Rimrock Health Centre gathering is already providing team-based maternity attraction arsenic the Chickadee Maternity Collaborative Clinic moved into the gathering successful November. 

Established 4 years ago, the Chickadee is simply a squad of midwives, physicians and caregiver practitioners who enactment unneurotic to supply maternity attraction successful Dawson Creek. 

Haley Hayner, who is the lone registered midwife presently moving successful the city, was contemplating leaving the assemblage but decided to enactment solely due to the fact that she had the accidental to articulation the Chickadee Clinic.

"Everyone was connected telephone perpetually for their ain caseload, and you get precocious rates of burnout with a concern similar that," she said. 

"The assemblage came unneurotic to fig retired however to code that issue, and we we pooled our quality resources and decided that we could each articulation 1 clinic, stock the caseload and stock the telephone schedule." 

Hayner says the Chickadee Clinic present averages astir 30 births per month, and she hopes determination volition beryllium much opportunities for collaboration arsenic the Rimrock Primary Care Network develops. 

"If you person aggregate concerns, past you request to see, maybe, aggregate practitioners. We're truly going to bash our champion to marque definite that that's each achieved successful 1 visit."

Dober says purchasing the session has been a "win" for the South Peace region, and the Chickadee session moving into the caller abstraction is the archetypal measurement of residents being capable to spot the benefits of the Rimrock Health Centre.

"Once it is afloat operational, it'll beryllium a immense plus not conscionable for the community, but genuinely for the South Peace," helium said. 

Hayner said she hopes Chickadee tin service arsenic an illustration of however a palmy team-based attraction exemplary tin relation successful the region, but says 1 of the large challenges volition beryllium recruitment and retention. 

"I deliberation everyone successful the state is truly trying to enlistee much providers and much staffing, and truthful if we tin physique the perfect squad situation and it's a spot wherever radical privation to enactment moving and possibly privation to travel and work, that it truly helps with recruitment and retention," said Hayner. 

Dober says the metropolis is besides portion of a doctor-led committee to tackle its recruitment and retention problem. 

"There's a batch of wheels spinning close present wrong to assistance get it afloat operational sooner than aboriginal truthful the doctors and wellness attraction workers successful our assemblage recognize the value of it and however overmuch it tin assistance the region."