Colwood’s trailblazing municipal-owned and run medical clinic is once again drawing public attention from across the province – and the United States.
As Health Minister Josie Osborne announced the launch of a six-week advertising campaign to recruit doctors and nurses in the U.S. and bring them to B.C., it was revealed Colwood is already leading the way – again.
Dr. Muthanna Yacoub, a U.S. doctor, is expected to make the move from Colorado later this year and begin work at the Colwood Clinic, located at Colwood Commons in Royal Bay, in November.
According to Osborne, Yacoub – who moved from Canada to the U.S. as a child – has found himself recently frustrated by the “limited” preventative health measures on offer for patients.
“Through his experience in the U.S., he has seen patients having to choose to delay care, even during cardiac emergencies, because they simply cannot afford it,” she said.
“My experience practicing in the states has been especially eye-opening regarding social determinants of health, and due to the extremely high fees compared to insurance coverage, patients seeking appropriate care is measured against their ability to afford it,” said Yacoub in a statement shared by the ministry.
Alongside Yacoub, Mayor Doug Kobayashi told the Goldstream Gazette another doctor from Ireland will be joining the team at the clinic in November.
Both Yacoub and the Irish doctor applied for the role a month ago and are currently navigating their way through the relevant processes needed to move to B.C., he explained.
"We at the City of Colwood are ready to go to bat for all family doctors that want to move to British Columbia – Colwood," he told press at an event June 6. "We're committed to supporting the health and prosperity of residents and providing access to health-care services and family physicians in alignment with our strategic priorities."
The two new doctors will join Dr. Cassandra Stiller-Moldovan, who moved from London, Ont. to help pioneer the model when it opened in January this year. Currently, Stiller-Moldovan has 500 patients on her roster, which she aims to grow to 1,250.
The trio of doctors is another step towards the city's ambition to have a total of eight family doctors at the clinic, with the capacity for 10,000 Colwood patients, who currently don’t have their own doctor.
It’s a need Kobayashi understands all too well.
The mayor has often said he might have avoided heart failure and diabetes had he not gone without a family doctor for 20 years.
But at the minister’s announcement June 6, Kobayashi shared another personal story, this time about his wife, who found herself a family doctor two years ago.
Because of an early diagnosis of breast cancer by her doctor, his wife was able to receive timely treatment and is now recovering. “All within a couple of months,” Kobayashi said.
“If it wasn't for our family doctor, she would have probably been marching along … not realizing that she had breast cancer,” he added.
Since it was announced that Colwood was opening its own clinic, the city has been flooded with calls from across Canada from municipalities wanting to follow in their footsteps.
It’s an initiative the Health Minister has full admiration for.
“I really do give kudos to the municipality here for stepping up in the way that they have,” said Osborne, adding she hopes the ministry can work with other local governments to create similar projects.
“We'll do everything we can to support this,” she said. "To me, this is about partnership; this is about recognizing that all levels of government have a role in strengthening our public health-care system.”
But the work is not over for Colwood, says Kobayashi, who told Goldstream Gazette that a meeting with the health minister prior to the press conference left him feeling “really good.”
“We talked about our challenges right now, our solutions that we're recommending, and she loved them,” he said. “And she's actually open to our proposals right now.”
Exactly what those proposals are, Kobayashi is keeping under his hat for now, but if the past few months are anything to go by, Colwood could be leading the way again on another bold, community-driven solution to the health-care crisis.
