Ask-A-Candidate Question 24

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QUESTION ADDRESSED TO MORINVILLE SCHOOL MAYORAL AND COUNCIL CANDIDATES

I attended the Forum on October 13th and I think almost every candidate, if not every candidate, spoke on the need for people to shop locally and to support our local businesses. I moved here in October 2008. I called both health clinics in Morinville to see how to get my family a doctor right here in Morinville or even if there was a walk in clinic. The response I got from the first clinic was to call the other clinic and the response I received from the second clinic was to continue to see the doctor that I currently had. Now this is an interesting response because the person on the other end didn’t even know where I moved from. So it is interesting to see all the candidates preach about the importance of staying in Morinville for all of our shopping needs, when a basic need isn’t even met. My husband and I are both lucky enough to live in Morinville and work in Morinville, so it is very frustrating that we have to drive to the south side of Edmonton to see a doctor when we are ill or even for a check up. What will you do in the next three years to support our needs for more medical attention in Morinville?

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5 Comments

  1. PLEASE NOTE – Only Candidates may post comments to this posting. Morinvillenews.com welcomes reader comments on our articles, but we wish to keep these particular segments open for candidates alone so that readers do not have to separate who is and is not vying for their vote.

  2. I was not able to attend the forum last night so I was not able to go into further depth regarding the full spectrum of services, businesses, industrial etc. I answered a question earlier in my campaign and referred to the business problem as being multi-faceted. We need to be a complete community that offers professional services, recreational amenities as well as commercial and industrial business. When I mentioned professional services that includes medicial professionals – we are in need of doctors and physio therapists. I too was surprised upon moving to Morinville in 1999 that I could not see a doctor in town. I hope that our increase in population will attract medical professionals. Any service, business, program etc. that can keep another person from having to drive in to the city is a welcome addition!

  3. I know that both clinics in Morinville are very busy because all doctors are not taking new patients. However the other day on the door of Grandin Clinic I noticed a sign indicating that two new doctors were taking new patients. Maybe an opportunity for you. In the past there have been attempts to try and attract a resident doctor for Morinville. Having asked your question, perhaps it is time to try again and double check to see if Morinville is still on the list.

  4. I can relate to your frustration as our family is in the same situation. We gave up our family physician in Edmonton when we moved to Morinville and now have to go to the St. Albert walk-in Medicentre for our health care needs. I was astonished that this basic service was not available to us locally. It is a huge concern, especially with our rapidly growing population.

    Like all businesses, medical practices need to be attracted to small communities. There is a shortage of these services everywhere so we are competing with other communities. We need to market our community to potential investors and this includes medical professionals. Like other investment strategies – it all begins with relationships. We can build relationships with our neighboring communities to work together to solve this problem and meet our collective needs. A great strategy is to recruit from within; to make Morinville into a community that our youth will want to return to after there are finished their University studies and are beginning their careers. Town Council also needs to be strong advocates to the Government of Alberta when it comes to meeting the basic needs of the town’s residents.

  5. You are correct that medical services are often forgotten as an important part of the business make-up of a town. There are some steps Council can undertake immediately.

    Many communities in Alberta (and across North America) have Physician Recruitment and Retention Committees. There are several communities in the Capital region with such Committees. There are also these Committees in Westlock, Barrhead and Athabasca. The Athabasca committee was recently successful in attracting two experienced physicians to an existing medical office. I recommend Morinville set up a similar committee with resident involvement and work with Alberta Health Services.

    Alberta Health Services (AHS)works closely with medical schools in Canada and internationally to identify, promote to and attract new physicians. Morinville needs to ensure we are included with the information AHS has available for new physician recruitment.

    The challenge for all communities is that with the exponential growth in the world population, the supply of medical doctors and other health care professionals has not kept up with global demand.

    For Morinville, physician recruitment and retention needs to be included in an economic development plan. The Town needs to work with local doctors and AHS to address any issues on doctor availablity for new residents.

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