Menzies Medical Centre is providing the community with a chance to have a direct impact on its healthcare, and for one winner, a cash prize will sweeten the deal.
Approximately a month after its beginning, Menzies Medical Centre’s 50/50 fundraiser has just over $4,000 in its pot. In previous years, the final number has hovered around the $6,000 mark, so the last surge of ticket purchases is likely to drive the number up even further.
“Of course, we want to challenge everyone to participate in their own community healthcare facility and support us in this initiative,” says Nicole Walske, executive director at Menzies Medical Centre and a member of the Menzies Medical Community Board. “You do help support the community clinic that you receive care in.”
The devices one encounters during care at the clinic — computers, tables, ultrasound equipment, et cetera — are all purchased by the Menzies Medical Centre Community Board. Funds from the 50/50 will allow the board to continue its work.
“The mission of the [board] is to support the development of the community medical center,” says Walske. “They facilitate the purchase of all our equipment, all our furnishings, all our computer technology. Everything that is physically located within the clinic, [including] any of the renovations we’ve done, is the hard work of the community board, fundraising, and community partners.”
Walske says that funds will also go toward recruiting physicians with incentives like moving allowances. She admits that the community has had some trouble in this department.
“I think it's only fair that we admit that our system is struggling and that we have been through a couple of years of tough times in recruitment strategies and provider availability, and . . . I would venture to say some provider burnout. Those that are working are working very hard to maintain our current system,” she says. “We see high numbers of individuals seeking care, whether it's at the walk-in centres or the emergency department, and that's not exclusive to Morden. I think that's important for us to recognize — it’s not just Morden, it's not just Winkler. This is a Canada-wide issue that we're contending with, but we are definitely seeing it here in our community.”
Walske acknowledges that there are concerns in the area about physician accessibility and long wait hours in emergency rooms.
“I can speak . . . very confidently on behalf of our doctors that none of them like that feeling in the community either,” she says. “They want to be able to provide support and take care of patients, and yet they're at their capacity as well. So trying to find hope for them has been a big mission of mine. I think that part of hope is admitting that we have a problem and [looking for] a solution.”
For Walske, one of the ways to approach a solution is to prioritize medical professional recruitment.
"We've been working really hard at . . . trying to build a positive environment for people,” she says. “The residents and medical students that come through our facility . . . love [it]. They love the collaborative teaching environment. Our physicians have nothing but the best to share with them in regards to training and availability and just giving them the experience of rural family medicine, so we know that there's hope and these up-and-coming physicians are looking at our area as an option to practice [in].”
One doctor has recently joined the medical centre, and another will join in September. For Walske, while these additions are just a start, they are promising, nonetheless.
“We know that this is a slow process," she says. "We need qualified human beings that want to be committed to providing care, so we're working on that and hopefully we'll have a few more join us.”
As the region is experiencing vulnerability in its medical system, fundraisers like the Menzies 50/50 help recruitment more than might be apparent.
“Our dynamic with the community board and the Menzies Medical Center is unique to our area, so physicians are often very excited to hear that they're not responsible for those capital purchases. They don't have to go out and purchase their own doppler for checking that baby heartbeat or provide funds towards the portable ultrasound that we have,” she says. “Those are the things that are great [as] recruitment tools . . . . [Doctors] can join us and begin practicing, and that is all thanks to our community, the generosity of the people of Morden area, and fundraising initiatives like our 50/50.”
Tickets for the fundraiser are available online here. To make it convenient to purchase tickets during the final stretch of the 50/50, Menzies Medical Centre is also setting up tables in Morden. Friday (August 23rd) there will be a table from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Gardenland Co-op's Morden location, and one at Giant Tiger from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The draw date is August 26th.
Help breathe life into local medical services and perhaps win some cash with Menzies Medical Centre’s 50/50 fundraiser.
~With files from Ty Hildebrand~