No stone unturned
Man with post-surgery health needs forced to leave province because he can’t find family doctor
David Trites says he was knocking on heaven’s door this past August when he return to his mother’s home in rural Pictou County.
Weighing just 113 pounds, he boarded a plane from Ontario to Nova Scotia to recuperate from surgery for pancreatitis as well as lung problems.
“I was on my death bed,” he said. “When they let me out of the hospital, I would have been on my own there, so my family took me in and I moved back here.”
When he left Ontario, he was referred to specialists in Nova Scotia for further care, but every one of them kept telling David he needed to find a family doctor immediately for regular monitoring and prescriptions.
Janet and David say that is easier said than done.
Two days after he arrived, Janet registered him on a provincial wait list for a family doctor and ever since has called government officials and doctors offices across northern Nova Scotia hoping someone would take him on as a patient.
“I’ve done everything I can think of,” said Janet. “There’s no stone I haven’t turned over trying to help my son.”
On Saturday, David will be boarding a plane to Ontario because he can’t get the medical help he needs here to be well again.
“I am just so frustrated,” said Janet. “I can’t believe my son has to leave Nova Scotia to get the care he needs. This is where we are and it’s just so sad.”
David said he will be going back to a province where he will be able to obtain a family physician within a week, but he will be alone, without the support of family.
Dr. Bill Lowe, department head of family medicine in the northern zone for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, said David’s struggle to find a family physician is not uncommon in Nova Scotia.
He said 1,600 people in Pictou County are without a family doctor. Recruitment is ongoing for the four vacant family practices in the county, but there is little chance of filling them in the near future.
“Rural areas are having a really hard time,” he said. “These numbers are a concern for me and I am concerned about the 1,600 people.”
Lowe said many factors weigh into the doctor shortage including the many job opportunities for medical graduates across the country.
“We are competing with the entire country,” he said, adding there are 17 medical schools across Canada. Some graduates do decide to practise in eastern Canada, but the numbers are not as high as they need to be.
“In the Dalhousie program, the number of finishing trainees who stay in Nova Scotia is a little above 55 per cent, which is better than some, but still not the number that we need to fill rural communities.”
In this particular case, he said, David came into the county looking for a family doctor when 1,500 other people were suddenly left without a family physician when a doctor had to leave his practice suddenly in February 2016 because of his own health issues. He said some of the county’s 27 other family physicians agreed to take on a few extra patients to help with the loss, but the bulk of these patients are still without a doctor.
Lowe said it is impossible to say one person’s needs are more important than another on the waiting list.
Pictou West MLA Karla MacFarlane said the provincial government acknowledges the crisis but isn’t offering solutions.
“We need to collectively work together,” she said.
“We need to ask why are we not able to recruit and not able to retain doctors? We need to create an environment that is more enticing to move here. It is discouraging saying that we want to increase the population but we can’t look after their basic needs.”
MacFarlane said both she and the family realize time is working against them. With David’s flight booked, he will be heading back to Ontario, but something needs to be done for the others still without care.
“The McNeil Liberals have broken their promise of a family doctor for every Nova Scotian and this is the real result of that. No one should have to go through medical struggles without their family to help them,” said MacFarlane. “This is a crying shame.”