City-owned medical clinic on Vancouver Island seeing recruitment success

A city-run clinic in Colwood, B.C., has a goal of connecting every resident who needs one to a family doctor in the next two years.

Colwood resident Sabrina Mori is one of more than an estimated 700,000 British Columbians that is not attached to a family physician, although she is optimistic.

“I’m on the provincial list in the case something comes up,” said Mori, referring to the Health Connect Registry, which matches people with doctors who are taking new patients when spots become available.

So far, she hasn’t had any luck.

But the City of Colwood recently opened its own medical clinic and it’s changing the practise of family medicine in the region.

“We’ve started seeing patients, we’ve started attaching patients,” said Jesse Pewarchuk, co-medical director of the Colwood Clinic.

It is run by the city and the doctors are municipal employees and don’t have to spend time running the practice.

“That’s where all the headaches are, it’s just not in our realm of expertise,” said Pewarchuk.

The clinic’s business model has led made it relatively easy to recruit physicians. One doctor has already been hired, coming from southern Ontario.

“The problem is that we’re trying to stay very true to our pledge to not rob Peter to pay Paul,” said Pewarchuk.

Trying not to poach other family doctors from different regions in B.C., the clinic is looking to recruit from outside of the province or hiring qualified family doctors who are currently not practicing within British Columbia.

The work is paying off. Two more employment offers are currently waiting to be inked for two more physicians in the coming month. The clinic is also hoping to close on another offer by the end of September.

“We have done no direct advertising in the United States and yet we are still having inquiries, serious inquiries,” said Pewarchuk.

The province, however, is looking stateside to recruit, attempting to fast-track the accreditation process for Americans.

“Now is the time to come to British Columbia,” said B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne.

Casting a recruitment net to include the U.S. is something Pewarchuk thinks could pay off.

“I think it’s a very smart move,” Pewarchuk said. “We could solve a big chunk of BC’s family doctor shortage just from drawing some California based doctors, keeping in mind the population differences between the two geographies.”

The Colwood Clinic hopes to have all eight full-time physician positions filled within the next two years, with the goal of linking every resident of Colwood to a family doctor.