Editor, The Times
I am pleased to announce that Drs. Mark Walton and Alice Gwyn will be joining our practice in May of this year. Drs. Walton and Gwyn were in Clearwater in the summer of 2012 as locums. They have since been to Newfoundland and Ontario and will be returning here on a permanent basis. They will be sharing a position.
Dr. Cristina Liciu is currently in her last months of residency training at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. She will be doing the last six weeks of her residency in Clearwater in June and July of this year under my supervision. Dr. Liciu will then join the practice on a full-time basis in mid-September.
Dr. Steven Broadbent is back to full-time work since his unfortunate mishap on the Clearwater ski-hill on Jan. 1. He has been forbidden to go on ski-hills until next season. He makes no guarantees about mountain biking however.
As of the end of September Clearwater will have five physicians filling four positions. This will be the best situation we have had regarding physician numbers for many years. I would like to thank the many organizations and individuals who have helped in this process. This includes our local hospital administration and staff, our community Physician Recruitment Committee, the District of Clearwater, Interior Health Authority, Health Match BC, and the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues (which has played a significant role in making available incentives for recruitment and retention of rural physicians). I would also like to thank the locums who have helped us maintain services in the last year. Many have been back multiple times and their contribution is greatly appreciated.
Most importantly I would like to thank the members of our community who, through their patience and intelligent use of medical services, make this a more desirable rural community for physicians than many others.
We will continue to have a growing number of students and eventually residents (physicians in their last stages of training) in our practice in the coming months and years. Once again I would like to extend my appreciation for the willing contribution that Clearwater patients make to their training. It has undoubtedly lead many to make a decision to practice family medicine and consider rural medicine as a career option.
John Soles, MD
Clearwater, B.C.