The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
November 27, 2007
WANNA BILLET A DOCTOR?
We have to give the Town of Princeton credit for coming up with what may at first sound like a wacky suggestion with their plan to find temporary rooms, suites and beds for doctors to use on a short-term basis.
It's all part of a much bigger plan to bait and eventually kidnap doctors with the grand plan of holding them hostage in Princeton.
The politically correct terminology is Orecruitment and retention.' You have to admit it's a creative way of sweetening the pot considering there really isn't much else to toss into the hat at the moment. Don't get us wrong, there's plenty of great things to see and do around here, the only catch is you don't really have to be a doctor to experience them.
We'd offer up floor space in our upstairs for a doctor to sleep on an inflatable mattress but no one has touched on the food issue. Doctors are notorious for being very hungry after a long shift in Emergency or in their office doing whatever they can to get through the backlog.
Local billet families will likely note that hockey players don't eat as much, but at least someone's paying them for their space.
So we're looking at a meal ticket and who's going to cover it?
We can't expect new doctors to do that. If we want them to come then it's got to be like an all inclusive holiday package.
You get your inflatable mattress space, access to a shower, laundry facilities, a place to practice your skills, some fun conversation, a little interaction with nice, friendly rural folk and three squares.
We aren't prepared to toss in the three squares. Nor are we so sure too many new or temp doctors would want to share the upstairs with our hairball hacking cat. But that's a whole different issue.
While we're at it, what are we going to get in return for doing our part in the recruitment and retention plan?
Sure, there's the warm, fuzzy, touchie-feelie part about helping health care in our community, but that isn't going to pay the mortgage or for those three squares.
And you could bet the hairball hacking cat could care less about whose shoes she's puking in today.
So maybe part of the incentive for us to consider opening our doors would be some cuts on our costs.
Cheaper prescriptions would probably get our attention. Maybe a frequent prescription card where you buy two and the next one is free, but only if you let a new or temp doctor crash at your place.
There has to be some sort of trade here in order to seal the deal.
Maybe that'll come when it's time to actually sweeten the pot so until then we'll go to sleep another night without a doctor in the house.
