(Image credit: CFJC News)

By Sydney Chisholm

Family doctors

Local division of family practice launches new campaign to attract doctors to Kamloops

Nov 23, 2022 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — The local division of family practice is launching a new project to attract family doctors to the Tournament Capital.

A shortage of family physicians is a major problem for the entire province, however, Kamloops is double the provincial average, with 40 per cent of locals currently waiting for a family doctor.

“Nobody I know really has a family doctor,” a resident who moved to Kamloops to attend TRU told CFJC News.

Another resident, who moved from the Lower Mainland, waited a decade before finally getting a medical practitioner.

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“Took ten years to get one, I can tell you that,” the man said. “It’s frustrating on a scale you can’t believe.”

Tim Shoults from the Thompson Region Division of Family Practice said the organization has been working on the recruitment and retention of doctors, but the problem isn’t unique to Kamloops.

“We need to really step up our game and bring more to the table for those physicians because everyone in Canada – most communities in Canada are trying to recruit at the same time,” Shoults said. “It makes for a challenging environment.”

In response, the local division is launching a new campaign, Champions for Family Medicine, aimed to recruit and retain doctors with financial support from local businesses.

In exchange for sponsorship, local businesses will receive exposure through media partners of the Champions for Family Medicine campaign.

“[The campaign] not only raises funds for recruitment, but it also demonstrates to our current doctors and our future doctors that Kamloops and the Thompson region are places that care about family medicine,” Shoults said.

The campaign will recognize the dedication and compassion of family doctors and showcase local physicians practicing in Kamloops.

“A lot of the time, the work is physician-to-physician and in the end it’s like word of mouth, doctors come here when they hear from other doctors,” he said. “Our job here in this division is to connect those prospect physicians to our physicians in this community.”

The campaign wraps up on B.C. Family Doctor Day (May 19, 2023).

A magazine highlighting local physicians, businesses who participated and the progress of the campaign will be distributed within the community with the conclusion of the project.

For more information on the campaign and sponsorship, click here.