Mayors agree: It’s a good start

A new provincial program that will see Colchester East Hants Health Centre become a training site for medical residents is a welcome step in the right direction, local officials say.

“I think this is what the Colchester East Hants Health Centre was built for, that we would have this opportunity,” Truro Mayor Bill Mills said. “I wish it would have come a little sooner and I wish there were more, but I’m happy with what we’ve got. It’s a start.”

The mayor’s comments came following Tuesday’s announcement by Health and Wellness Minister Randy Delorey that the government was partnering with Dalhousie medical school to create 10 more family physician residency spaces, per year, to help address the province’s critical doctor shortage.

Colchester County Mayor Christine Blair agreed.

“I think that this is wonderful news. I think anything that can deal with doctor recruitment and retention in the centre core of Nova Scotia is very good for our residents,” she said.

“It is something that is on everyone’s mind. This is one of purposes of having this hospital… is to have it as a training facility.”

Mills said one thing, in particular, struck him at Tuesday’s announcement.

“Even though we as individuals get impatient and we think nothing is happening, the government, the physicians and Dalhousie have been working on this project for quite a while and I’m really pleased that they’ve come out with the announcement today,” Mills said.

“It only makes sense that if we bring young doctors into this area to do their residency, the chances of them staying here are elevated quite substantially.

“I just wish we had done it a little sooner.”

Blair said she too is hoping that having residents trained here will help with future recruitment of family doctors and if the program is successful that it will lead to more spaces being created.

“We have to start somewhere. We’ve got six residents coming in. That’s better than none.”