Health committee  One of the things that was mentioned earlier was that we need a mechanism to bring all the stakeholders together, from the community level up through the various professions, to generate the recommendations that have the broadest consensus possible that we can bring to whatever l

Health committee  As far as the definition of rural goes, I would strongly encourage you to steer away from trying to completely understand it, because it's a moving target. If you are a researcher, you need sort of a Statistics Canada definition. If you're a health planner, you need more a style

Health committee  The quick answer to that is that there is more appetite for a global capitation-type system, because one of the characteristics of rural areas is that volumes are unpredictable. Emergency rooms, for instance, may be quiet or may be overwhelmed from one day to the other. Just to

Health committee  With reference to the locum licence, the Society of Rural Physicians has long lobbied for a mechanism for locum licence. A rural physician's best replacement is another rural physician, and it's not true that every community is in crisis across the country at the same time. For p

Health committee  I can speak from the experience in Quebec. The incentive structure that works best, in my mind, is one that is tied to the characteristics of the practice. In other words, the major thing that distinguishes a rural physician from his urban colleague is—and the word is best in F

Health committee  I'll just make a first comment. Roger is working in a more northern area than I am, but I have worked in Sioux Lookout in his area. Fundamentally, from a health human resources perspective, I think there's a great deal of similarity. There are a lot of physicians and nurses who

Health committee  Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity. I will give my presentation mostly in English, but I can answer your questions in French if you wish me to. I practice in the Outaouais region, on the Quebec side, about an hour from here. So I am the closest from Ottawa. Th

Health committee  Mostly we're trying to pull all the retired nurses back into the fray. Already in rural Canada, when we have residents and students, we give them a lot of responsibility, so they certainly take some of the load that is appropriate to their level of training. The Society of Rura

Health committee  I don't think it's an issue of supplies; it's mostly an issue of manpower. In most rural communities the essential services are covered by people who are working flat out already. If 30% of them are sick, then there will be difficulty covering emergency departments. I had one n

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the opportunity of appearing before you. I have Cecelia Li with me, whom I dragged into this. She's a medical student who's currently doing a rural rotation in Shawville, just down the road. She's part of the group that is the relief, the cav

Human Resources committee  The most crucial part is to counter the tendencies in our society toward centralization and specialization. We should privilege versatile human resources, something which is the opposite of specialization. That is why people were much more versatile fifty years ago. Even the dema

Human Resources committee  Mr. Romanow's recommendations were not implemented, and there was no investment. When I was with Health Canada's rural health office, some investments were made. There was a $50 million investment in programs, and it was distributed according to a provincial formula. But it was u

Human Resources committee  We consider the programs that are implemented by the provinces to deal with these problems. Provinces are quite capable of making decisions at a certain level, more particularly in their own fields of jurisdiction, as concerns the financing of the system and the distribution of r