FAQs
- The age of current practicing doctors and the retirement of doctors.
- The community has grown.
- It’s hard to recruit new doctors. This is due to many factors that include housing costs, work/life balance and the fact that doctors graduating today want different things including team-based practice environments, computerized medical records and up-to-date medical facilities.
The Saanich Peninsula employs a rural medical model, which means that physicians in the community also staff the hospital, with the exception of the Operating Rooms. Physician shortages in the community threaten the survival of the hospital.
A primary care centre offers a multi-disciplinary team of health care professionals providing wraparound care with continuity between clinic, hospital and home-based care. The team-based model encourages collaboration between doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and dieticians—which in turn provides better care for patients, with the added benefit of allowing a work-life balance for staff.
- permanent clinics in Sidney and Brentwood Bay that are built (or renovated) to accommodate new practice methods;
- a hub clinic in Saanichton (at or near the hospital) to provide support to the Saanich Peninsula Hospital;
- temporary walk-in clinics to handle our current emergency situation on the peninsula;
- aggressive recruitment of physicians and other professionals, locally and across Canada, to deliver service;
- your support and understanding while we work as fast as we can to help.
The funds from this campaign will not go to pay physicians. What we need to do is build the right infrastructure – a network of primary health care centres with modern facilities, separate business administration, a team-based practice environment and support from allied health professionals – nurses in practice, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers, others that the group sees as critical to serve their patient population.
With your help, here’s what we’ve accomplished to date
Thanks to you and your support of the Foundation and this year’s fundraising target, we have already achieved some of the goals of the campaign.
- We opened a new clinic! Shoreline Medical Brentwood Bay was renovated and opened in February
- Shoreline Sidney renovations began in April and are now almost complete.
- Four new doctors will be coming to Sidney in the next 4 months!
We are currently searching for a third clinic site, near the hospital in Saanichton.
Help us improve the health of our community
There are currently approximately 15,000 people on the Saanich Peninsula who are not registered with a family doctor. These orphaned patients represent a crisis in health care. It’s not a brand new problem, and it will not be an easy situation to resolve, but we believe there is something that can be done. We’re aiming to raise $2 million to support patient-focused, team-based medical care, and bring family doctors to the Saanich Peninsula and to our hospital.
Help us support a strong, healthy community by making a donation. From renovation and construction of new health clinics, to doctor recruitment campaigns, together we can make the right care available to everyone in our community.
In the News
Lack of doctors causing frustration for patients. Peninsula News Review, August 19 2019.
Model clinics connect teams of MDs with Island patients. Times Colonist, July 7 2019.
$2 million campaign launched to address Saanich Peninsula doctor shortage. CHEK News, October 2018.
Physician Shortages: A Reset and Our Future. Seaside Magazine, October 2018.
Clinic closure leaves Sidney with one walk-in option. Peninsula News Review, July 25, 2018
The Doctor Game: Family doctors worth their weight in gold. Times Colonist, July 22, 2018
B.C. launches plan to tackle doctor shortage, emergency room congestion. Peninsula News Review, May 24, 2018
We’re graduating more doctors than ever, so why is it so hard to find a GP? CBC, May 04, 2017
B.C. doctor shortage to worsen as more physicians near retirement: study. CTV News, December 11, 2017
Solving the Saanich Peninsula’s Health Care Problem. Seaside Magazine, October 27, 2016
Legacy Giving
After talking to donors for 20 years, I know that some want to have an immediate impact; others want to leave a longer-lasting imprint.
Legacy Giving
After talking to donors for 20 years, I know that some want to have an immediate impact; others want to leave a longer-lasting imprint.
Commerce for Care
Corporate donations help take the pressure off Foundation operating costs.
Commerce for Care
Corporate donations help take the pressure off Foundation operating costs.
Donor Stories
All of our donors are special. We’d like to share with you a few donor stories that we think you’ll especially enjoy.
Donor Stories
All of our donors are special. We’d like to share with you a few donor stories that we think you’ll especially enjoy.