murray mandryk: making doctors feel wanted best sask. recruitment tool
"if i didn't feel so strongly about it, i would have gone to the states years ago." — neurosurgeon dr. michael kelly on our health system.
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neurosurgeon dr. mike kelly seen here at the launch of saskatchewan acute stroke pathways feels there are ways to encourage surgeons and other health professionals to stay at home.
ashley martin
/
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neurosurgeon dr. mike kelly isn’t necessarily practising in saskatchewan because the fishing here is better than in san francisco, cleveland or cambridge, mass., where he recently received his certificate in surgery leadership from harvard medical school.
the fishing here helps, though.
it helps that kelly can head up to besnard lake or even further north a couple or three times a year to fish with medical colleagues or longtime high school buddies from regina.
it helps that he can easily get out on the water at blackstrap lake in front of his cottage, which is an easy drive to where he works at saskatoon’s royal university hospital. it helps that he’s found a really nice, affordable home close to ruh that allows him to walk to work even in the chill of a saskatchewan winter.
it surely helps most that he’s from here. kelly grew up on a grain farm near gray, a hamlet southeast of regina where 58 people live in the 24 to 27 houses still occupied.
but what helps most is a health system that makes it apparent that we want its people to stay.
“i’m a proud supporter of public health-care delivery in this country,” kelly said in a recent interview.
“if i didn’t feel so strongly about it, i would have gone to the states years ago.”
“if i didn’t feel so strongly about it, i would have gone to the states years ago.”
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the lure of practising in big u.s. medical centres for bigger pay is there for most medical professionals, but it’s magnified for a doctor of the calibre of kelly, who was appointed provincial head of surgery in february.
this week, kelly and dr. patrick brophy — a pediatric nephrologist, appointed provincial head of child health and pediatrics in may — were appointed to leadership roles to help the government recruit medical talent.
a similarly lauded university of saskatchewan grad, brophy has returned to the province after most recently serving as chair of pediatrics and physician-in-chief at golisano children’s hospital in rochester, n.y.
prior to that, brophy served more than 10 years at university of iowa health care as director of pediatric nephrology and a professor at affiliated carver college of medicine.
kelly received his phd in anatomy and cell biology, md and b.sc., from the u of s, where he also completed his neurosurgery residency.
he then completed fellowships in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery at the cleveland clinic and stanford university medical center and has been practising neurosurgery in this province since 2008.
he became division head of neurosurgery and clinical chair with the saskatchewan heart and stroke foundation and has done critical research and clinical trials on stroke recovery.
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there were temptations from san francisco or other large u.s. medical centres that actively recruited him, kelly acknowledged. but with a wife and family deeply rooted in this province, the desire to remain at home won out.
kelly believes a lot of homegrown surgeons, anesthesiologists, specialists and other health-care providers have similars desires.
keeping them here may require offering them something before they leave, he said, adding it isn’t always the money.
“if you look at the u.s. model, they surround the surgeons with high-quality personnel,” kelly said, emphasizing the need for supportive health professional teams.
of course, proper compensation is needed, but kelly believes saskatchewan can be competitive if it’s smart and avoids every recruitment bidding war with neighbouring manitoba and alberta.
it will also require being strategic, he said, adding that may mean accepting that regina and saskatoon cannot offer every similar specialization.
with a more nimble, single health authority and added recruitment dollars, kelly said saskatchewan does have tools to attract medical professionals — especially those who are from here.
not every medical professional acquainted with dural arteriovenous fistulae: endovascular embolization indicators and such techniques may be quite as interested in the best presentation technique of a leech or half crawler on a bottom bouncer that’s most likely to entice a saskatchewan walleye.
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but there are other ways to lure top-notch medical professionals.
mandryk is the political columnist for the regina leader-post and the saskatoon starphoenix.
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