Cold Lake buying medical clinic in hopes of attracting doctors

Cold Lake city council wants to buy a local medical clinic in hopes that it will help entice more doctors to come to a community where 40 per cent of residents lack access to a family physician.

The city plans to spend $1.85 million to buy the Glacier Gate Medical Clinic from two physicians who are leaving Cold Lake.

A five-person board of directors would run the clinic as a for-profit municipally controlled corporation or MCC, at arm's-length from the city. The building also houses a pharmacy. 

"The time for staying on the sidelines while providing substantial taxpayer funding in the hopes of resolving these issues in the local health-care system is over," the draft business plan states.

"Rather than remain a passive observer and a source of recruitment funding, the City of Cold Lake is now looking to establish a strong foothold in the active recruitment of physicians so that it can influence change for the community that will meet its health-care needs."

Mayor Craig Copeland said the city wants to expand the number of physicians, not just replace those who retire or move away.

"What council's vision here was, let's get in here, let's get a foot in the door, let's learn how to run a clinic," Copeland said. 

"The idea is to get a few more doctors in the community to take the pressure off our existing doctors because we feel that they're just overtaxed."

A municipal census conducted in 2022 found that 40 per cent of Cold Lake residents don't have access to a family doctor and with another eight per cent seeing a physician outside the community. About 46 per cent of respondents said they wait over three weeks to get an appointment.

Since he first became mayor in 2007, Copeland said the number of doctors in Cold Lake has stayed the same while the population has increased. He said new physicians are recruited only to replace those who have departed. 

The city wants to bring in additional practitioners who can accept new patients. 

Alberta Health Services is aware of and supports the Cold Lake proposal, a spokesperson said.

Municipally controlled corporations are typically utility companies, such as ENMAX in Calgary and Aquatera, which is based in the Grande Prairie region. Municipal Affairs isn't aware of another municipality that has used the MCC model for a health-care facility.

Retaining physicians

Dr. Samantha Myhr, president of the rural medicine section of the Alberta Medical Association, has looked at the Cold Lake proposal. 

Myhr says the city's proposal looks good on paper, though she cautions she hasn't spoken to physicians in Cold Lake.

The ability to practise in a clinic that supplies space, support staff and equipment would be attractive to potential recruits, she added.

Myhr said she also appreciates that a community is recognizing that keeping and supporting the existing physicians by lightening their workloads is critical. She said continuity of care is important to patients, and provides another incentive to draw physicians to the community. 

"They are happier," Myhr said of the existing physicians. 

"They're going to be more willing to train new learners and those learners are going to see a workplace that allows them to have a bit of a balance, where people are happy.

"And so it's a self-perpetuating positive cycle."

Cold Lake city council held a public hearing on the proposal last month as required under municipal law. The council is expected to pass a resolution Tuesday night, which will then be sent to Municipal Affairs Minister Rebecca Schulz. The minister is required to be notified within 60 days. 

Copeland hopes to have the clinic running under the new model by April 1. The four physicians who remain at the clinic and the current staff are expected to continue in their roles after the transition.

The majority of the city's other family medicine clinics are located on the second floor of the Cold Lake Healthcare Centre, which gives them no room to expand. 

If the MCC fills up space in the first clinic, Copeland said it could look at opening a location in another part of the city.