RIH Foundation going above and beyond to bring doctors to Kamloops

From welcome baskets and dinners with donors to lending a temporary home, the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation is going to great lengths to hire doctors for Kamloops.

With two new doctors set to start work in the new year, the foundation would normally offer to host them in one of its donated downtown homes, but they’re full with onboarding doctors already.

“We’ve become this full-service, concierge service,” Executive Director Heidi Coleman said. “One of the things I hear from doctors coming from another country is, ‘Where am I going to land?'”

She said the local hospital foundation goes further than most to recruit doctors and support them in their first months on the job. While health authority recruiters try placing them in positions where needed across the region, the hospital foundation works to sell them on Kamloops.

It’s a job that has ramped up in the past year, through the foundation’s own efforts and also because of interest from out-of-province doctors.

“We’re really busy with doctors coming. Now we have them coming from south of us in the US, a few gastroenterologists coming from the UK, and we have some coming from Australia,” Coleman said, adding that there are others from eastern provinces interested in Kamloops.

Coleman stressed the recruitment effort is done by partnering with Interior Health and local doctors already working in Kamloops, but it’s the foundation that markets life in Kamloops to any prospects.

Beyond a simple welcome basket at the prospective doctor’s hotel, it could involve getting tickets to a local theatre production, hosting dinners with foundation donors or showing the outdoor lifestyle the Kamloops area offers.

“I work with recruiters and… we’ll put (the prospective hires) up, and they’ll let us know they like fishing, horseback riding or whatever their interests are,” she said. “Each doctor in each area that’s needed, whether it’s neurology, anesthesiology, cardiology, they’re all working really hard with the recruiters to bring people here. Then they tap in with us and we make sure their visit is great.”

Beyond selling Kamloops’ amenities, the foundation will help spouses find jobs or arrange daycares and schools for families.

In the past year, it’s helped hire hospitalists for Royal Inland, anesthesiologists and oncologists, she said, noting that it’s Interior Health recruiters who line up which doctors are visiting.

Once they land, the foundation might host new hires at its downtown condo or its house, both of which were donated to the foundation. Especially for doctors coming from out-of-country, it means they can have a month or more to find a home to buy, rather than arranging it beforehand.

“We are very happy at the foundation to provide that service, and it’s worked pretty nicely for us,” Coleman said. “As you can see, we now have two doctors coming in around the same time… All of our donated places are full, so we’re reaching out to the community.”

Due to start in January are an anesthesiologist and a hospitalist. Because the condo and home are already full, either with visiting doctors or new hires, the foundation is looking for a landlord to host them temporarily.

Though not alone, Kamloops has a shortage in multiple specialties, with primary care and obstetrical-gynecology reaching high-profile shortages this past year.

It’s not always successful either. If there are openings throughout the region, Interior Health may offer someone a position at several hospitals, not just Royal Inland, but Coleman said the efforts made to sway prospective hires to Kamloops aren’t done everywhere.

“I do speak to other foundations who say we’re unique in doing this,” she said.

While Coleman did not say there has been an influx of obstetrical-gynecologists looking to Kamloops, Interior Health has been attempting to hire new specialists amid a crisis in maternity care.

There has been interest from eight specialists to replace the outgoing seven specialists. Five have been interviewed as of Dec. 1. If successful, Interior Health could have ten new maternity specialists in Kamloops after seven announced their resignations due to the workload.