By Tommy Osborne

Mackenzie Doctors

Despite healthcare challenges, doctors aplenty in Mackenzie

Sep 19, 2025 | 3:23 PM

MACKENZIE – Much has been made of healthcare struggles in Mackenzie, particularly Emergency Room closures, but Mackenzie does have one large benefit working in its favour: doctor availability.

“We are very fortunate in that we have eight doctors living in our community, so every person who lives here has access to a doctor. No one is seeking their primary health care at an E.R., which is the case in many, many communities, unfortunately,” said Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson.

“There’s a lot of assurance for people, they feel good about the fact that they do have that access. They don’t have to go somewhere else to get a family doctor. […] I think overall for our community, those people love that fact. It just makes them feel good, makes them feel safe,” added Mackenzie Councillor Andy Barnes.

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Mackenzie has around 4000 people living in the community, giving it a great ratio of one doctor for every 500 people. For reference, Prince George’s ratio is approximately one doctor for 1150 people, as there are around 70 doctors for a population estimate of 80,000.

“We have it so good. If we make an appointment, you get to see the doctor, it’s that simple. And we have walk in clinics too that take place during the week, so there’s always access and it’s pretty quick,” Barnes said.

While this benefit makes life easier for Mackenzie, Atkinson was quick to also acknowledge the concerns people have like E.R. closures, among others.

“I would be, negligent to say that everything is perfect here. You can’t have a baby here if you’re seriously ill or injured. You’re going down to Prince George in an ambulance,” she said.

“We don’t have any specialists, no dentist, no optometrist. But family health care delivery is top notch in this community,” she continued.

It’s an issue Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Kiel Giddens is concerned about, saying addressing the E.R. closures has to focus on nurse attraction and retention.

“We’ve got to start by making our hospitals safe and welcoming places, make them good workplaces for our nurses, that’s number one. And the second is to really focus on those recruitment retention programs, make sure they’re actually effective. We need to get these hospitals to the point where nurses aren’t getting burnt out at the end of the day. We need to make sure that they can thrive in their workplace,” Giddens said.

As for the lack of specialists in Mackenzie, Giddens says this is an issue all across Northern Health, and says the solution is similar to the nurses in that a strong work environment to attract specialists must be created. However, he says that’s not all that needs to be done.

“We’re actually losing specialists because they can’t get the O.R. (Operation Room) time here that they need. They can’t get the services, they’re overworked and overburdened. We need to make sure we have a great workplace environment for specialists to recruit those to our northern communities. And I want to see Victoria to actually pay some attention to Northern B.C.,” Giddens said.

While Mackenzie certainly has healthcare challenges that it hopes get addressed, the District will take its notable advantage with everyone having easy access to a doctor, an advantage not enjoyed by all communities.

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