The town says the number of local doctors has dropped from 15 to just eight over the past five years, and many of those who remain are not working full-time.
Hinton Town Council declared a local health crisis last week due to a shortage of healthcare workers and local primary care services reaching a “critical breaking point”.
The City Council voted to award the Hinton Healthcare Foundation (HHCF) $1 million in two installments of $500,000 over two years to address the issue at the city level.
This comes after HHCF chairman Garth Griffiths made the request to city council and said the money would be used to maintain and improve access to primary health care in Hinton, including access to doctors and nurses.
“The move to declare a local health care crisis and provide direct funding to HHCF was not made lightly,” Hinton Mayor Nicholas Nissen said in a June 24 news release.
“While health care is not the focus of City government, it is our job to ensure a healthy and safe community. We can't do that if local health care providers are not supported in serving our residents. We will not step in unless absolutely necessary.”
In addition to these recent measures, Hinton’s Attraction and Retention Committee (ARCH) is developing a community-led approach to help attract and retain physicians and healthcare professionals.
The move comes as Hinton has repeatedly experienced shortages of medical personnel.
Notable cases include Hinton Healthcare Center being unable to provide obstetric services on weekends in April and its emergency department being closed overnight in May.
The town says the number of local doctors has dropped from 15 to just eight over the past five years, and many of those who remain are not working full-time.
“When towns fail to provide adequate health care services to their residents, despite it being a state responsibility, it can have cascading effects on towns and their residents,” Hinton Chief Operating Officer Jordan Panasiuk said in a statement.
“This issue is not unique to Hinton. We are hearing of similar physician shortages across Alberta. In Hinton, the number of physicians serving our community has declined to unsustainable levels and we cannot allow this issue to disrupt care.”
The $1 million contribution to HCCF will cover the deficit at Hinton Medical Clinic, and the foundation will have a governance role in overseeing the clinic.
The town said in a statement that the clinic has “consistently experienced a decline in the number of physicians available to serve the community and cover the overhead costs of operating the facility.”
Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said in a statement to Fitzhugh that Alberta Health recently hired a doctor in Hinton and is actively recruiting five more for the region.
“I commend the Mayor for his solutions-focused approach to this issue as we work collaboratively and creatively to find solutions,” LaGrange added.
“We are passionate about rural Alberta health issues to ensure Albertans can get the care they need, when and where they need it. This includes increasing rural medical training opportunities, updating our physician compensation model to incentivize the best and brightest to become physicians in Alberta, and expanding government-paid nurse practitioners' access to primary care.”
