To the Editor:
The City of Weyburn has lost and continues to lose doctors. In response to the loss, our community appears to be going through the stages of grieving, such as denial and anger.
(We recall the good old days when doctors drove their horse and buggy thorugh a blinding snow storm to deliver a baby.)
Strangely we have rapidly leapt into the last stage of grief, of acceptance, and are busy searching for new doctors.
Unfortunately, many of our remaining physicians have a complete complement of patients and cannot take any new patients. We contemplate driving to Moose Jaw or Regina, or of even moving to a larger centre.
I have lost my doctor, but I will admit I am stuck in the stage of … bargaining. I understand that the process of recruiting is ongoing, and that process takes time, some say as many as three years.
I also thought that once we had a new hospital, we would automatically be able to retain doctors. We do not as yet have a new hospital, and we have not to this date even identified a location for the new facility.
I recently have been made aware that a major obstacle to retaining doctors is their commitment to a rotating schedule in the emergency room at the Weyburn General Hospital.
Some doctors don’t appreciate being up all night, and then getting up and going to work in the morning at their clinic. Come to think of it, neither would I.
Apparently the emergency room has over the last few years been under scrutiny. I still recall a sign at the hospital announcing that there is no doctor in residence at the hospital.
In conclusion, I wish to toss this dilemma out to the general public. What can we do do solve this problem?
Looking into the future, I can concerned not only about the loss of our doctors, but about what this loss will do to our community.
It’s not too late. I sincerely hope that we will not discover that “you never miss the water until the well runs dry.”
Connie Regier, Weyburn
