I think there needs to be a little more incentive to come to the northern communities. Charlene and I are still a distance away. We're still in northern Ontario.
Despite getting the early notice from my doctor because I just happened to be there when he made his choice, I went over a year without a family physician after mine retired. I had the applications going in to the doctors already, and it took me a year of badgering before I was able to get a doctor.
That's bad because I get to see my endocrinologist twice a year and that's it. If anything happened in that time, I was having to go to walk-in clinics. I would not go to emerg; I went to the same walk-in clinic where I was able to build that rapport with that physician. They understood that I knew what I was talking about, because if doctors don't realize that, I end up getting poor care because they think they know more, and they say it's just my diabetes and I'm not taking care of myself.
I know my diabetes is not well right now because I have an underlying issue that's making it impossible for me to take care of myself.