CENTRE WELLINGTON — Centre Wellington council is exploring ways it can recruit more healthcare professionals to the area. One of those ideas is a new committee made up of various community representatives.
Angela Stanley, president and CEO of Wellington Health Care Alliance, outlined the problem at a Monday council meeting.
“As you know healthcare has changed dramatically over the last five years with the pandemic but also with the acuity that we’re seeing with our patients.
“Our population is aging and with that comes a higher use of the healthcare system. We’ve also seen a significant amount of growth with our community and with that growth pressures on the system,” Stanley said.
Stanley asked if it would be possible to for collaboration to bring more of these experts to this community.
“Is there opportunity for us to work collectively to really put our community at the forefront as a place to be and work from a clinical perspective?” Stanley said.
Dan Wilson, CAO, suggested putting a committee together to move forward on this challenge.
“What we’re looking for here is more of a committee that could work together for township specific initiatives,” Wilson said.
That committee would study what incentives would help bring relevant professionals to Centre Wellington.
“And just looking to see council’s level of interest in establishing that working committee and moving towards some type of incentive package to bring these professionals to our community,” Wilson said.
Coun. Barbara Lustgarten-Evoy made a motivating statement in support of this undertaking.
“We need to recognise that this is a township effort. This is everybody. This is not just council. This is not just the recruitment. This is not just the hospital. This is all of us, need to work together to make sure that our community is safe and appealing to future caregivers,” Lustgarten-Evoy said.
Coun. Lisa MacDonald requested some clarity on what the next step will be.
“During our strategic planning this would be a perfect avenue to put a committee in place, is that my understanding Dan?” MacDonald said.
Wilson requested a working group to take on the challenge.
“What we’re requesting through this staff report is to give approval for the establishment of this working group now.
“Which is just a working group at more of a staff level, county staff, township staff, Groves staff, the chamber of commerce and we will work at that group to bring recommendations back to council for approval,” Wilson said.
Council voted unanimously for the report’s recommendation.
Jesse Gault is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
