By CKPGToday

New Physicians To Support Primary Care In Fort St. James Area

Oct 12, 2018 | 10:42 AM

FORT ST. JAMES – Northern Health will be contracting two new full-time primary care physicians for residents of Fort St. James and the surrounding area. 

The additional physicians will support outreach services to surrounding First Nations communities. These new positions will increase the number of physicians in the region from six to eight in order to deliver local day-to-day healthcare. 

“We look forward to supporting these physicians as they bring needed services to the Fort St. James area with a focus on the communities of Middle River, Tache, Binche and Nak’azdli,” said Colleen Nyce, board chair, Northern Health. “They will be fully integrated with the primary care network in the region and together work to ensure people have better access to the health-care services they need.”

Funding was provided by the Ministry of Health’s Alternative Payments Program (APP) to Northern Health to hire primary care physicians on a contract basis. 

Aside from more physicians, new technologies are coming closer to home including telehealth services that bring the patient and provider together online and digital home-health monitoring. 

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Northern Health is partnering with the Tl’azt’en Nation, Nak’azdli Whut’en and the Fort St. James Primary Care Society for these additional physicians. Under the new contracts, the two new practitioners will start seeing patients on November 1st. 

“These two new positions will improve health-care services to our members, who are in remote and semi-remote communities,” said Chief Bev John of Tl’azt’en Nation. “Tl’azt’enne will have access to doctors and outreach visits which guarantees that at minimum, they will have better access to primary care.”

“Nak’azdli Whut’en needs better access to primary care service so our people can focus on addressing the health-care concerns that come with living in rural and remote areas,” Chief Alex McKinnon of Nak’azdli Whut’en. “By working collaboratively, we can focus on improving community health in the region.”

“We are grateful to Northern Health for funding this collaborative community proposal,” Ann McCormick, chair, Fort St. James Primary Care Society. “This initiative goes a long way in stabilizing physician resources in remote communities such as Fort St. James in a sustainable manner. We are passionate about innovating in health care to ensure the people of our diverse region are supported with the challenges of managing their rural health-care needs.”