To our partners in the community: a brief update.
Many thanks for your overwhelming support for the medical staff and allied health professionals during this challenging time. Many of you have reached out to see how you can help.
We have temporarily covered gaps in physician ER coverage at the Lady Minto Hospital until the end of September. An interim new funding model has helped us recruit locum ER physicians from other sites. We hope that this model can continue beyond September to enable ongoing recruitment.
I am thrilled to announce that Dr Hannah Gummeson will be joining Salt Spring Island Health Centre in late July. She is a home-grown talent having spent much of her time growing up on SSI and completed parts of her residency training here. There will be overwhelming demand for her services. As such there will be a randomized attachment process running from July 10 to July 14. Please call or drop by the Salt Spring Health Centre to put your name on the list. Unfortunately, once her initial patient panel is full the clinic will not be keeping a waitlist. Other options that are available if you do not have a family doctor are to sign up for the provincial program 'Health Connect Registry': see more details at http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry.
Primary care network planning is an exciting ongoing process on Salt Spring Island that will eventually result in a multidisciplinary clinic that will be able to serve the various health needs of Salt Spring residents. Please stay tuned on this front as we will need the support of the public along the way.
As always, the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation is doing excellent work including fund raising for the final stages of our new Emergency Room. We are thrilled to start working there in the fall!
If anyone has any experience or expertise in the recruitment field and would like to assist us in a grassroots recruitment campaign for new physicians please contact fems.lmh@gmail.com. In addition, if you know a GP, ER physician or psychiatrist who is looking to relocate to this beautiful island then we would love to meet them!
Yours sincerely,
Dr Peter Verheul Lady Minto Hospital MSA President and Dr Kesh Smith MSA Vice President
On behalf of the Lady Minto Hospital Medical Staff Association
