A group of doctors is sounding the alarm on a growing healthcare crisis in the Cowichan Valley.
Like elsewhere in BC people in the Cowichan Valley are finding it increasingly difficult to find a family doctor.
Mark Sanders, who represents the Cowichan Valley Primary Care Society, says that several factors contribute to this in the valley, mainly burnout and doctors retiring.
The Cowichan Valley Primary Care Society says that they are seeing a growing number of people who are unattached to a family doctor and predict that number could get as high as 44,000 people by 2026.
Many doctors in the valley want to retire but are struggling to find a replacement which means many large clinics are at risk of closing.
They add that the more people without a family doctor puts more pressure on the Cowichan District Hospital.
Mark Sanders spoke to North Cowichan Council and outlined a possible solution to this problem.
They want to create a community-driven clinic in Duncan that would be operated by a non-profit with charitable status.
“It’s about partnering with the community like, not just kind of, standing back and, you know, seeing what happens but to actually engage with community and try to be all to be a part of the solution as we’re all in on this together,” says Sanders.
Sanders pointed to the Shoreline Medical Society in Sidney and Brentwood Bay as examples of this.
The goal would be for the Cowichan Valley Primary Care Society to take over struggling physician-run clinics to prevent closure and ultimately keep them open and serving patients.
The society plans to secure startup and early operational funding for a community clinic early this year.
