South Grenville councils mull supporting family health team

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MAITLAND – It’s not just physician recruitment that has garnered the attention of local elected officials.

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How to help retain the health-care services offered by the Prescott Family Health Team generated considerable discussion at a South Grenville tri-council meeting held at the fire hall in Maitland on Tuesday night. Sixteen of the 17 members of municipal councils in Augusta, Prescott and Edwardsburgh Cardinal attended the session.

The health team operates the only medical clinic in the South Grenville area. In addition to three family physicians, primary-care resources offered at the clinic on King Street West in Prescott include a physician’s assistant and a nurse practitioner as well as a social worker, dietitian and a range of preventative programs.

Health teams are non-profits funded by the Ministry of Health; they must be affiliated with at least one group of family physicians. The Prescott team is one of the smallest in the province and has a roster of 5,200 patients.

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With just three family physicians in the practice, the local team’s overhead expenses for everything from staff payroll, medical benefits costs and rent to equipment and supplies exceed 30 per cent of total income, which is considered a high rate. Increased rent and other costs have exacerbated the situation.

“So we need your help… to lower our overhead costs,” Dr. Dinny Mathew, the team’s executive director, told the council members.

In a letter to the municipalities, Dr. Mathew requested funding that amounts to about $7,225 from each municipality per year for three years.

In addition to asking the councils for advocacy for investment in primary care in general, the need to support physician recruitment was also emphasized as part of the presentation on Tuesday.

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“The way things are moving, our group is at serious risk in the coming years if we’re not able to expand,” said Dr. Matthew Cooke, one of the three family physicians at the Prescott practice. Doctors Nikhil Bhatt and Ioannis Felemegos are the other two.

Dr. Cooke explained that he has to apply to the ministry every two years for a special exemption to enable the Prescott group to continue with just three family doctors.

It was noted that adding a fourth physician to the group would offset the need for the team to seek financial support from the municipalities to help with the overhead.

There are “lots” of family doctors in Ontario, according to Dr. Cooke.

“They are choosing to do other things.”

Although it does not have the authority to approve such a funding request on behalf of the municipalities, the tri-council passed a resolution calling on the three to consider the health team’s request as part of their 2025 budget deliberations. That move followed a sometimes frank but civil discussion in which several council members voiced their concerns about lower-tier governments having to get involved in health-care issues.

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Edwardsburgh Cardinal Mayor Tory Deschamps stated that using rural and underserviced municipalities and their property tax money that was collected for municipal purposes to pay for health care in Ontario or offer incentives to doctors “shouldn’t be allowed.”

Deschamps noted that the township has a community grants program to which the health team could apply, adding that would fit under the municipality’s mandate. The mayor said he doesn’t think that the amount being sought is a big number or that it would be an issue for Edwardsburgh Cardinal.

Other council members also expressed their reservations about municipalities having to delve into health-care matters, but added they would support the health team’s funding request.

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“We can’t risk losing what we have,” Prescott Councillor Ruth Lockett said. “I’m in favour of it, but I think it’s a band-aid for now.”

It was noted that municipalities might not be able to make a three-year funding commitment, given that the current council term ends in two years.

Dr. Mathew had made a similar presentation about the health team and the need for physician recruitment at a combined meeting of the local councils in Spencerville in July 2022, a few months before the end of their four-year term. Tuesday night’s tri-session was just the second of the current term; the first took place in May 2023.

Within the last few weeks, municipalities in the Leeds and Grenville area have started to consider a three-year physician and health human resources recruitment program being proposed by former Ontario health minister George Smitherman and former Upper Canada Family Health Team executive director Sherri Fournier Hudson.

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