Creston’s award-winning physician recruitment program has worked to attract three locum physicians to fill in for vacationing doctors in the coming months.
“Since the group’s relaunch in November, with recruiting consultant Marilin States, the group has been working diligently,” Mayor Ron Toyota said last week. “This includes updating the remarkable marketing materials created by (former recruiter) Deryn Collier, as well as developing new marketing materials and strategies.
“With the assistance of local physicians, Interior Health and especially hospital chief of staff Dr. Randy Grahn (who has made countless phone calls and emails on the community’s behalf), we are pleased to announce that we anticipate three physicians coming to work as locums in the next few months. Some or all could up staying, or returning in the future, to become additions to our current compliment of physicians.”
A locum is a physician who is filling in temporarily for another. Locums are unable to accept new patients. Many physicians take on locum positions in several communities before they decide where to establish a permanent home and practice.
Creston Valley Hospital chief of staff Dr. Randy Grahn first came to the area as a locum.
“I practiced as a locum in several communities (Kamloops, Port McNeil, Port Hardy, Fort Smith, N.W.T., and Peace River, Alta.) for a year and a half before coming to Creston late in the winter of 1996,” he said. “Doing locum relief work is quite common for new physicians to develop practice experience work in a setting that they can have mentors/associates for back-up and advice when first practicing, begin to earn money without committing to a specific area or practice group (most new doctors are coming out of training with very high student loans), and trying out different practices and different communities in anticipation of taking on a permanent position.”
Others, he said, are physicians that are semi-retiring and want to work some of the time without the commitment to a full time practice. There are some physicians that make a career out of locum relief work as a way to have flexibility throughout their career, or mix paid work with volunteer work.
“Locum work can be interesting and it allows you to see different parts of the country as well as different practice styles (hospital work and clinic work),” Grahn said. “Like a lot of locums I also returned to the community where I had done the majority of my family practice training in my residency years. It was easy to return to a community where I already knew the physicians, the hospital staff, and the various systems of local services and referral practice.”
Why did Grahn choose Creston?
“The community seemed very friendly and welcoming. My spouse found a number of community groups to become involved with. The art’s community is vibrant and rich with a healthy number of productions and entertainment options.
“Creston had a nice climate with four distinct seasons, relatively mild winters yet a lot of snow in the mountains for winter sports, a good curling club, an active slo-pitch league, and great growing season. The valley is beautiful. Kootenay Lake nearby offered water recreation, and small lakes and rivers provided fly-fishing opportunity.
“We found a small piece of property that was near enough to town to do on-call from (doctors covering in the ER must be available to come in on short notice), private and affordable, something that was not available in bigger centers.
“Creston fit the needs we had as a family to have the kind of life we wanted socially, recreationally, and professionally. The medical community was supportive and congenial. We felt this could become a home for us, which it has.”
“The Creston Valley Health Working Group hopes that our new locums will have similar experiences to those of Dr. Grahn,” Toyota said. “When you meet them, please extend a warm welcome to them. It is through us as citizens, selling our community support of these professionals, that we will all benefit.”