January 29, 2025
There is growing concern in a Vancouver Island community that will soon be left without a single family doctor.
The Town of Lake Cowichan, B.C., about 30 km west of Duncan, is currently home to two family physicians.
But one has announced his retirement, while the other has revealed plans to move. Both will be gone by June.
“He knew me mentally and physically and now he is going to be gone, it is hard to replace that,” Lake Cowichan resident Robert Vezina said of his retiring doctor.
Lake Cowichan Mayor Tim McGonigle is worried.
He said about 60 per cent of the community’s 6,500 residents are over the age of 50.
“We are an aged population, and some of those aged people with complex health issues would need a family physician to accommodate those needs,” he told Global News.
“My concern is this is going to have a significant impact on the health care system of Cowichan District Hospital, which is already bursting at the seams. ”
Lake Cowichan does currently have two nurse practitioners based in the community, but McGonigle said he believes there is a several-hundred-person waitlist to see them.
Health Minister Josie Osborne acknowledged the community was facing a “tough situation.”
But she said the province is making progress in recruiting new family doctors.
Since the governing NDP revamped its family physician pay model in 2023, the province says it has attached a quarter million people to primary care.
“We have to keep doing what we are already doing, and we are showing momentum, we are attaching more and more people to primary care providers, we are establishing a new medical school, we are doing things to attract doctors and nurse practitioners to our communities,” she said.
Osborne added she has spoken with McGonigle, and that the province remains committed to working with municipalities on innovative business models to get doctors working in their communities.
In the meantime, Lake Cowichan residents are left waiting and watching.
“Let’s hope for the best,” Vezina said.
