By Cheryl Jahn

Northern BC Needs More Physio

Jul 26, 2018 | 2:27 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Another Northern physiotherapist has retired, making access to the service even thinner than it already is. It has renewed the drive for better physiotherapy training in Northern BC.

“There’s a shortage of physios throughout the province, but way, way worse in the Northern and rural areas.”

That’s Hilary Crowley, a physiotherapist in Prince George since 1972. She cites a report that was put together in 2015, entitled “Physiotherapists for northern Communities.” It points to the fact that the North had 86 physiotherapists at that time, compared to 3,251 in the southern part of the province.

UBC has the only training facility in the province and, in 2012, it launched a Northern Cohort, which involves 20 of those UBC students coming to Prince George to train. Initially, it was to be in place for a year, and those 20 seats would subsequently become the foundation for a Faculty of Health Sciences at UNBC. It never happened.

“There are many students that are living in the Northern areas that want to get into the program, but if they have to go to Vancouver [for training] chances are they’re going to stay there.”

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And the Northern Medical Program has served as a beacon for how it could work. It graduates roughly 30 doctors a year, two-thirds of whom practice in Northern BC.

“UBC and UNBC and Northern Health are working collaboratively to find solutions. But, definitely, training in the North, near to where the need is, is far more likely to keep the physiotherapists that you train,” says Crowley. “So I think that’s a really important model and the Medical Program has proven that it works.” 

But, when asked if there were any plans to change the delivery model, Susan Murphy, Head of the Department of Physical Therapy at the UBC responded with a statement. It reads:

“Training physical therapists to serve the needs of British Columbians across the province – including those in northern, rural and remote regions – continues to be a high priority for UBC’s Faculty of Medicine. We, along with our educational partners, are continuously looking for opportunities to help educate the next generation of physical therapists for B.C.”