Anyone who has ever lived in a rural Alberta knows the challenges associated with recruiting doctors to their small communities. This February, we got the opportunity to see first-hand what rural Alberta communities are doing to make this process easier for everyone. when we were asked to create a conference video for the Rural Physician Action Plan (RPAP).
Community representatives of attraction and retention committees from across the province gathered at the annual Rural Alberta Community Physician Attraction and Retention Conference in Edmonton. Co-hosted by the Alberta Rural Physician Action Plan and the Northern Alberta Development Council, the event gathered groups from across the province; giving them the opportunity to share experiences and learn about new initiatives related to the task of attracting, retaining and recruiting new physicians to our rural communities.
The conference gave us the chance to hear the amazing story of a young doctor who recently immigrated to Canada from South Africa. Dr. Wilhene Zwanepoel shared the compelling story of her and her husband’s journey in getting to Canada (and the challenges she faced once arriving to our country).
“We started with this process in 2008.” Says Dr. Zwanepoel, “It was close to five years we were busy with this process. Some people have a five-year plan to buy a building or build a business; our five year plan was to get to Canada.”
Dr. Zwanepoel was just one example of the the inspiring stories shared during the conference, showing the desire for physicians to come to Alberta and the need for these physicians in the province.
It was awesome to hear the stories of newly arrived physicians and discover the innovative ways in which rural Alberta communities are using creativity, passion, and determination to attract much-needed medical professionals to their communities.