The success of recruitment efforts to attract healthcare professionals to the area could see Palmerston and District Hospital become a teaching site.
Dr. Christine Peterkin told the Township of Mapleton Council last night that they almost have a full roster of residents for the coming year and that’s helping them make the case for Palmerston’s hospital becoming a teaching site in the next few years.
“Palmerston has never really been considered a longitudinal site, which means when a resident comes for family medicine training when they come with me it’s just for two months at a time,” Peterkin explained. “In a longitudinal setting, their home base would be our area then that would be the launch pad for the two years they’re doing their family medicine training to go to their specialty sites.”
Dr. Peterkin also told council, that they were able to fill four of the six available residency positions in the area and received funding to hire more nurse practitioners.
Dr. Peterkin says the hope is that those residents will develop ties in the area while they are in training and will choose to set up practice here. Mapleton council approved 10-thousand dollars in funding for the Mapleton-Minto Health Professional Recruitment Committee for another year.