ATHABASCA —Local politicians are applauding a new plan by the provincial government to help support health care in rural communities.
“There is an urgent need for customized supports in rural and remote communities across Alberta,” said Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health in an Oct. 3 press release. “This action plan will serve as a roadmap to build and maintain access to high-quality health care in these areas of the province.”
In light of the imbalanced distribution of doctors and a list of other healthcare issues like lack of training for EMS, the government of Alberta has recently announced the Rural Health Action Plan, a 37-page, three-year plan with the aim of creating equitable access to healthcare across the province.
Initial steps announced as part of the action plan include a $16 million bursary program over two years for medical students completing their last year of residency in exchange for a return of service.
LaGrange’s sentiment is one both Athabasca and Boyle Mayors, Rob Balay and Colin Derko, agree with.
“It’s great,” said Balay. “Any incentive that can get interest for med students that are finished their residency and are ready to enter the workforce full-time, I think it’s a great initiative.
“Then it’s up to the community, once they sign their three-year contract, to make it as welcoming as they can so they want to stay well beyond the three years.”
Derko agreed, noting how the region’s ongoing initiatives like the Rural Health Professions Action Plan, also known as RhPAP, the healthcare recruitment and retention committee, and community-specific offerings like Boyle’s healthcare housing, will support the government’s new action plan.
He added while a cash incentive won’t be the sole deciding factor for physicians considering Boyle, it could ease the burden of start-up expenses associated with establishing practices.
“There are real costs for them to be coming out into rural Alberta,” said Derko. “If they just go straight to Edmonton, I’m assuming they’re instantly making money, they’re busy. Whereas in rural Alberta, you may end up having to build your practice up a little bit.”
One item Balay disagreed with LaGrange on is the current status of family doctor availability in Albertan communities.
“I believe we’re at a place now that where anyone who is needing a family physician, there’s availability, there isn’t a waiting list to be on to find a family doctor,” said the minister during the press conference.
Balay noted Athabasca currently has seven of 10 family physician openings filled, and the unfilled spots translate to a need for family care that extends beyond the local clinic’s ability to track.
“We have over 1,500 people on the waiting list, and they quit taking names at 1,500, so we know there’s more than that that are without a family physician, so I think the need is definitely there.”
More than doctors needed
But LaGrange, Balay, and Derko are on the same page when it comes to recognizing rural healthcare in Alberta needs more than additional doctors.
“There is also evidence that physicians in rural practice required more support from allied health professionals than they are currently able to access. Therefore, we cannot focus only on physicians,” reads the Rural Health Action Plan.
The plan notes community-specific needs will be taken into consideration, such as demand for specialists ranging from speech language pathologists to physical therapists. LaGrange said more local input, from communities and the new regional advisory councils, will help shape the plan to work for rural areas and their residents.
For Balay, bringing support in the form of nurse practitioners is high on the priority list for Athabasca.
“They can basically do probably 95 per cent of what a doctor does, and whatever they can’t handle, they would just refer to a specialist, which is what a family physician does as well.”
In Boyle’s case, the real need lies with registered nurses. Derko said while more family physicians for the village would only be a boon, it’s not a lack of doctors that have kept the hospital closed nightly for more than two years.
“The thing that’s stopping us from 24-hour service and acute care is registered nurses (RN’s), we just don’t have a steady flow,” said Derko, adding the nursing shortage isn’t a daily issue, but does prevent the consistent nightly running of the emergency room.
“It’s almost like we’re right there; the toes are hanging over the edge of the bridge, we just need to jump,” he said.
Derko said cash incentives such as bursaries for supporting healthcare staff like RN’s have been the subject of discussions at the municipal levels and with regional partners, including Athabasca County.
“One hundred per cent, it is being looked at and it is being talked about, and it’ll probably be talked about even more seriously in the next coming months, just to see if that’s a way we can entice those individuals to come to our community.”
Derko also placed emphasis on providing those opportunities and incentives for local youth to pursue professions in the healthcare industry to fill the gaps in services in their own communities.
“I think the provincial government should be shouldering that, personally, but I also think they are talking about it,” said Derko. “I just feel that we can react quicker, and I want to say we can react better.”
“All I’d have to do is phone my daughter who works in the school and say, ‘Are any of those kids thinking about going into nursing? ‘Cause we have x-amount of dollars available for them,” said Derko. “The province, they can’t do that.”
“My personal opinion is that is tax dollars well-spent.”
According to Alberta Health, 18 per cent of the province’s residents live in rural and remote communities, served by only seven per cent of the province’s practicing family physicians.
Eight-hundred thousand dollars in funding have been slated for a Medical First Responder Agency grant, which will allow rural, remote, and First Nation, Métis, and Inuit communities to build initial response facilities such as firehouses. The program will fund up to 16 new agencies, with grants of $50,000 per.
Another $600,000 has been allocated to an Emergency Medical Responder Education Grant which will allow communities to recruit more EMS staff and provide better training.
“The Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) is encouraged by the government of Alberta’s efforts into applying a rural lens on how health care is funded, structured, and delivered,” said Paul McLauchlin, president of RMA.
“This plan is a significant step towards designing and implementing a system that works for rural communities across the province.”
The Rural Health Action Plan covers 2024 to 2027, and LaGrange said the plan will be reviewed and updated every three years.
Family physician bursary
Under the new resident physician bursary pilot program, medical students from any university in residency at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary can qualify for cash incentives as soon as December. Grants will be made available for June 2025 graduates.
Future family doctors looking to practice in rural communities — defined in the plan as up to 200 kilometres from metro or urban centres — can receive $125,000 in return for a three-year return of service commitment for the community of their choice.
Applicants interested in practising in remote areas, more than 200 kilometres from an urban area, will receive $200,000.
“A return of service agreement really says that you’re committing to that community for a number of years,” said LaGrange in an Oct. 7 follow-up press conference. “Oftentimes, people get to rural communities and then really enjoy the pace that is there, the ability to really connect with the community.”
