A Langford mother has taken to the streets and social media to demand solutions after she and her family joined the long list of those about to be without a family doctor.
Camille Currie is one of about 3,000 patients who will lose their family doctor come April 15 when two physicians from Eagle Creek Medical Clinic in View Royal leave, forcing the temporary closure of the clinic’s walk-in service.
“It hit my husband and I quite hard,” said Camille. “We feel scared to all of a sudden not have a GP because we know what our history has been and what we’ve had to go through.”
Currie’s initial anger quickly turned to a ton of research on primary care and then she rocketed into advocacy: She started a Facebook page called B.C. Health Care Matters that in days attracted almost 500 members, launched a petition, and leafleted patients lined up before the 8 a.m opening of an Urgent and Primary Care Centre in the West Shore on Wednesday.
“I just realized, No. 1, I’m not alone,” said Currie, 39, a fitness trainer who moved to the capital region with her family from Alberta four years ago. “It is astonishing to find out there are 900,000 other people like me in British Columbia right now that don’t have a GP.”
Camille has a blood disorder, connective tissue disorder and a cardiac condition. At 32, she had her third heart surgery to implant a pacemaker.
Husband Shawn, also 39, has an extremely rare disease-causing gene mutation that he passed on to his children, age 12 and 14. As a result, the three have neurological issues and auto-inflammatory disease. Her young son had a stroke and her daughter has twice had shingles. They are now on an experimental off-label treatment, on compassionate grounds, which has the side-effect of suppressing their immune systems amid a pandemic.
The Curries say they rely on a family doctor for hands-on diagnosis, specialist referrals and co-ordination of treatment plans, tests and monitoring, including adverse reactions to new medications. “Our GPs have always been very important in our lives for helping manage those things,” said Currie.
She worries about her immune-compromised husband and children having to resort to visiting the ER at a time when hospital admissions and occupancy are at peak levels and Omicron remains highly transmissible. “So it’s just the worst set of circumstances you could ask for.”
With the province negotiating a contract with the Doctors of B.C., she said, it’s a “pivotal time” to apply more pressure.
“It is my belief that many of these issues can be rectified through them negotiating a contract that is just and fair,” said Camille.
Her petition, with almost 2,000 signatures, expresses “deep frustration” with the ongoing shortage of family doctors in B.C. and calls for an action plan to rectify the crisis.
“What I want the people to know is there is absolutely no way I’m giving up on this until we see changes that make a difference,” she said.
Alexis Reid of Oak Bay didn’t know about Camille Currie’s Facebook page when she created her own called Finding Health Care in Greater Victoria this week with the idea of crowdsourcing resources and information for people on how to access care and where and how to find a family doctor. It now has 360 members.
“After I lost my family doctor yesterday, I realized how difficult and overwhelming it will be to continue to find healthcare for me and my family,” Reid posted.
The page was instantly popular but has so far attracted few tips on how to find a family doctor.
“I don’t really think there is a way to find a doctor, sadly,” said Reid in a text. “However I hope that if people know of new doctors down the road then they’ll share that info.”
The province and Doctors of B.C. have started to renegotiate a Physician Master Agreement that expires March 31. A new agreement isn’t expected to be signed until the fall.
Doctors of B.C. president Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh said while clinic closings are bringing attention to the issue, doctors leaving practices or the profession is not new.
Dosanjh said key parts of the negotiations include allowing doctors to opt for different payment models including contracts and salary — because the one-size-fits-all approach of the current fee-for service model isn’t working for everyone — and ensuring that telemedicine is funded but used judiciously.
Dosanjh applauds individuals crowdsourcing as a way to help one another find a family physician, and expressed “my sincerest empathy” for those who have lost their family doctors.
“I know it’s a vulnerability and many patients that share that sentiment and many of us providers as well, are in that same boat at times,” said Dosanjh.
Dosanjh said the guilt of seeing patients without family doctors is another burden.
“I want patients of this province to know that all of us are advocates at the side of our desk.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
