CENTRE WELLINGTON – A stone farmhouse in Fergus may soon be home to newly-recruited medical professionals in Centre Wellington.
In a report heading to council Monday, CAO Dan Wilson, will ask for the Township of Wellington to approve the use of 965 Gartshore St. in Fergus as an accommodation space for healthcare professionals.
Meeting several times since they formed in February 2023, the healthcare recruitment committee for Groves Memorial Community Hospital (GMCH) has begun to develop a general approach to the issue with staff accommodation at the forefront.
This is the first part of the township's strategy to provide accessible living spaces for newly recruited healthcare professionals.
“The past few years have been challenging for GMCH with the need for more healthcare staff,” said the report. “There is a need to remain competitive with what other communities offer potential recruits by providing the best experience possible when working and living in our Township.”
According to the report, as a popular tourist destination, finding affordable and available accommodation in Centre Wellington for short-term medical professionals can be difficult.
“Funds received from the Township ($20,000 annually) has assisted the hospital in their efforts to provide accommodation for many hospitalists and other interested physician candidates,” said the report. “However, these funds are quickly running out as the demand for accommodation is increasing.”
The farmhouse and 20-acre parcel of land were originally purchased in early October 2021 for $3,950,000 as a new operation center for the township.
Requiring little maintenance other than furnishing and freshening up the building, pending council approval, the building could be ready for occupation as soon as May 2023. Costs will include minor utility, insurance, and cleaning.
According to the president and CEO of Wellington Health Care Alliance, Angela Stanley, the rural health care system typically had physicians work multiple roles.
“What we are finding is that physicians don’t typically want to do what we’ve done historically,” Stanley said in a previous interview. “But with the growth of the community and even just a different practice philosophy for physicians coming out of school, they tend to want to specialize a bit more than being that very generalist approach.”
Describing affordable and accessible accommodation as a major challenge for healthcare recruitment, Stanley believes there should be an emphasis on providing stable accommodations for healthcare professionals working on a transient basis.
“They really need somewhere to come and stay and without that stable housing, it’s not a motivator for them to come,” Stanley said.
While healthcare recruitment is not a mandated service for municipalities to provide, the township has assisted in past efforts financially, providing subsidized office space at a township-owned building in Fergus until 2020.
Coun. Barbara Lustgarten-Evoy previously made a statement in support of the committee's undertakings.
“We need to recognize that this is a township effort," said Lustgarten-Evoy in an earlier meeting. "This is all of us, needing to work together to make sure that our community is safe and appealing to future caregivers."
Once approved, the committee will begin reaching out to businesses for donations, creating a booking system for staff, and developing a cleaning and maintenance schedule.
Currently, several local businesses have tentatively confirmed they’ve secured appliances for the home and the County of Wellington will cover the cost of mattresses for four bedrooms.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
