ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Dr. Brendan Flowers from Mountain Maternity and Family Medicine in Canmore. About a month ago I spoke with another local doctor, Dr. Kendra Barrick, about the fact that there were no family physicians in Canmore and Banff that were accepting any new patients. A month later, has there been any movement on that? Are we still kind of in the same situation?

DR. BRENDAN FLOWERS: We’re basically in the same situation. It’s hard to believe, but over the past three years we’ve actually lost 10 physicians even as our population continues to grow. Many of the clinics have tried diligently to try to recruit additional physicians to the Valley but we just have not had any luck doing so.

RM: I seem to remember 10-ish years ago, or maybe a little bit more, there was a statistic about the fact that we were really blessed to have so many physicians per capita here in the Bow Valley. It really does seem like a great place to live. What are some of the barriers to recruiting here in town?

BF: Yeah, we actually did have the highest per capita at one point, but that is certainly not the case now. We’re in the same boat as many other communities across Alberta, as well as across Canada, that are in dire need of physicians. In terms of some of the factors – obviously everyone’s aware of COVID, and that’s put an increased strain on not only the health system, but also all the physicians and nurses here. That’s led to quite a bit of burnout through Alberta. A study has shown that more than half of physicians are actually looking to decrease their workload because of their own mental health and they’re burning out. That’s one of the factors. The cost of living has also increased here and that unfortunately gets passed through to higher rents, higher staff wages, and that’s passed on eventually to physician overhead to cover those expenses.

RM: I guess it’s not a straight line. I mean, I think people assume that if you’re a doctor you make a lot of money, but I mean the overhead and the fact that you have staff to pay in these clinics…that’s definitely a factor, isn’t it?

BF: What most people don’t realize is that, although health care is publicly funded, it’s actually privately administered. Each clinic here in the Bow Valley is an independent business, a small business. We have staffing costs, rent, and supply costs. The services we provide to the patient are free, but as a business we have to cover those operational costs. The higher those costs, those get forwarded on to the physicians, so 30 to 40% is pretty typical for overhead to be charged to physicians to simply have the opportunity to work in our clinics.

RM: Are there any other factors you wanted to mention?

BF: I find there’s a naivety around the Bow Valley actually looking and recruiting. I mean, the Bow Valley is an incredible location to live and a lot of people visit here, but I wonder if there’s this sense of naivety that people just don’t know and don’t bother to reach out because they assume that there won’t be any spots available to work here. The last would be the government. I’m saying this as an independent practitioner, but with the UCP cuts and the uncertainty that tearing up the master agreement has caused, it makes it difficult for anyone to move to Alberta, not just the Bow Valley. Having a proper contract in place would be worthwhile to have for stability and security for anyone moving here.

RM: Something you wanted to talk about is the fact that maybe somebody listening might actually be able to help this situation, is that correct?

BF: Everyone in the Valley would love to have more of a grassroots effort here. Physicians are trying to do our very best at this point. We would love to be partners in working with AHS and partners in working with the PCN, but the same could be extended to anyone here in the Valley. As individuals, if you know any physicians who are looking to relocate, then please reach out. If you don’t know how to help or how to spread the word, then please reach out to any of the clinics. Businesses can help by spreading the word if they have newsletters or email lists to let all their clients know that we’re actively recruiting for the Valley. Places like hotels. We have thousands of visitors who come here who fall in love with the Valley, and what better opportunity would there be to also give them opportunity to work here and return as a full-time resident. Hotels could put posters in their lobbies, or include it in newsletters, or in the welcome package or the binders in the rooms. There’s an opportunity for the town to try to rally behind this as well in an attempt to try to spread the word. If anyone is aware of press contacts, we would love to get the word out to other major news networks that we’re actively looking. Anyone, in any area, could be helping. If someone is looking for marketing opportunities we would love to try to get the word out about advertising and marketing, about design and branding…these are all things that people could partner to help us with this effort.

RM: Dr. Brendan Flowers, thanks so much for joining me on the show today and talking to us about this, and maybe somebody listening will be able to help.

BF: That’s all our hopes and dreams. If there are any follow-up questions or thoughts – Mountain Maternity and Family Medicine, you can reach out to our phone number, (403)675-3088, or even send us an email, and we would truly love and be honoured to hear from anyone and everyone about this.

Filed under: Banff, Canmore