BIOGRAPHY
I am a 37-year-old wife and mother; born and raised in North Perth. I own a home here with my husband of 15 years. Our kids go to school here, and my husband has worked for the same Listowel business for 20 years. I am invested in this community and in its future.
I’m a makeup artist operating a small business out of our home. This has allowed me to be an at-home-parent for 13 years. Prior to that I obtained a Real Estate Sales License from Ontario Real Estate College, and received my post-secondary education at Conestoga College.
Community involvement is important to me. I served on the committees for 100 Women Who Care and Aspire to Inspire; A Celebration of Inspirational Women in North Perth. I co-chaired a successful small group at our church, and I’ve served as an active volunteer at our children’s schools.
The management of taxpayer dollars is a high-priority responsibility. I am financially prudent, solution-minded, and committed to understanding the issues from the ground up to make informed decisions. I am an advocate for physician recruitment, and understand the need for youth retention. I desire to help make North Perth a community that our kids want to come home to, settle in, and put down roots of their own.
I’ll bring new energy and fresh ideas to council. Allow me to be your voice so that we can share a prosperous and sustainable North Perth.
BIGGEST ISSUE
My initial instinct was that inflation and budget would be first and foremost on the minds of our community members. However, after conducting a brief survey, I learned that the attraction and retention of doctors and nurses is of more concern to those North Perth residents.
The doors to our emergency department have been closed several times over the last few months. This has some members of our community panicked that help will not be available should they need it.
I spoke to one family who had arrived at a Listowel Wingham Hospitals Alliance emergency room, only to find it closed. They then had to call around to several emergency departments in neighbouring communities before finding one that was open. After finally connecting with an open ER, this family had to drive their injured child more than 40 kilometres before they were able to receive care. This was one family’s experience; no doubt there have been others.
Long wait lists for assignment to a family doctor is another major concern.
I’ve spoken to community members who have been waitlisted for three years or more. They have no one locally to go to who knows their medical and family history. Their family doctor either retired and hasn’t been replaced, or they are new to the community and there isn’t a doctor with availability. With no family doctor for anyone moving into the hundreds of new homes being built, many of those people will choose not to move here. Are we going to be able to continue to appeal to youth and young families if we aren’t able to offer them family health care?
This also impacts the long-term care of an aging population. We can’t discuss health-care recruitment without touching on this need in long-term care and retirement. Stats Canada 2021 Census shows that residents 60 years and older account for 27 per cent of Listowel’s population. Seniors need access to readily-available doctors and emergency rooms.
This issue will snowball. Life for the remaining doctors serving this community will become much more stressful and less rewarding, leading to more departures and making it even more difficult to recruit.
Health care is woven into the fibres of every aspect of a thriving community. Ensuring that health-care infrastructure keeps up with future demand, and at reasonable cost to taxpayers, should be of utmost priority. Yes, health care is overall a provincial matter, however attracting doctors and nurses to our community and giving them good reason to stay is very much a municipal issue.
Perhaps it’s time to make more room in our municipal budget for the tools and initiatives that will not only aid in recruitment, but also in the retention of health-care providers. We need to show them what sets North Perth apart and makes this an incredible community in which to live.
If elected, I hope to work closely with the Physician Recruitment Committee to better understand what more our municipal government can be doing to attract additional health-care professionals to our community.
