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Help offered to restart Olds health-care attraction-retention committee

Councillor says there's a need for mental health professionals too
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Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) director Rebekah Seidel addresses Olds town council.

OLDS — A spokesperson for the Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) says that group is willing to help Olds revive a committee to attract physicians and other health professionals to the community if town officials are ready to do so.

RhPAP director Rebekah Seidel made that offer during a presentation to Olds council on Feb. 24.

“There was a committee here a number of years ago and we’ve been hoping that we’ll be able to come back and work with committee members on reinvigorating remnants of that committee and move forward,” Seidel said.

She said central south zone rural community consultant Lara Harries is available to provide assistance if necessary.

Olds Institute executive director Mitch Thomson, also a town councillor, confirmed the Olds Physician Retention & Attraction Committee has been dormant since 2017 because the community was deemed by the province to no longer have the urgent need for health-care professionals that other rural communities had, and because the community as a whole no longer seemed to see the matter as urgent either.

“We often get confused with being recruiters. We are not recruiters. We have never been recruiters. That is professionals’ work in Alberta Health Services and other health facilities that do the hiring,” Seidel said.

“We are not an HR agency. We are a community development agency that works with those of you who can work on that attraction and retention.”

Seidel said RhPAP has done a couple of studies over the years so they know what recruitment and retention strategies work well in rural communities.

“It largely comes down to what you have control over,” she said. “And you have control over what your community looks like to people coming in and how you showcase it.

“And you have control over how well the practitioners and their families are integrated into the community.

Those strategies include inviting students in health-care professions to visit rural communities on weekends during which communities showcase themselves, the health-care facilities they have and the lifestyle and recreation they offer.

Seidel said RhPAP officials know their strategies work because “we keep running across what used to be kids in those programs now working in the community as health professionals.”

“The last two years, the graduating students from nursing, medicine and physiotherapy, they say one of the first things they’re looking at now is the community first and then if that satisfies their lifestyle and outside work interests, then their final decision will be made, obviously based on what position they would get there,” Seidel said.

“But you have a lot more control with the younger population coming out now than perhaps you might have historically because they really are interested in living in your community and playing in the community."

Seidel noted RhPAP holds a conference every two years. She said it’s a great networking opportunity for representatives of communities to meet each other and learn the newest and best ways to recruit and retain health-care professionals.

Seidel said the next such conference will be held Oct. 6-8. She did not say where, because that’s still a secret, but said it will be in a “Central Alberta location.”

Coun. Mary Jane Harper liked the fact the group is focusing not just on recruiting doctors and nurses, but other health-care professions. She said there’s a need for more mental health professionals in rural areas.

“So the timing of your presentation probably is great, because this council was talking about reinvigorating an attraction-retention committee and those are just some of the other health providers we’d like to see in our community, I’m sure,” she said.

Seidel said her organization encourages committees to involve more than one community.

Coun. Heather Ryan liked that idea. She and Mayor Mike Muzychka noted Olds has a good relationship with surrounding communities, including Mountain View County.

Muzychka thanked Seidel for her presentation.

“If it gets to the point where we need to fire up that committee again we’ll certainly reach out to you,” he said, describing RhPAP as “a fantastic resource” for the province.

 

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