Minto budgets for recruiting donation

The Town of Minto is once again budgeting for a $10,000 contribution to local health care professional recruitment efforts in 2017.

Mayor George Bridge advised Minto-Mapleton Healthcare Professional Recruitment Committee chair Shirley Borges and recruiter Alison Armstrong that council is anticipating making its annual donation in its 2017 budget.

Borges and Armstrong appeared at the Feb. 6 meeting to update council on recruitment activity over the past year.

Borges told council the new Minto Rural Health Centre, which opened in May 2016, makes recruiting “so much easier.

“We know that new physicians want to work in a team-based setting and a new setting such as the Minto Rural Health Centre,” she stated.

Borges noted the Minto-Mapleton area now has regular rotations of medical students and they utilize it as the “rural component” of their residency.

“We provide them with a good opportunity to see what rural health care is about and, of course, attract them back to our community,” Borges explained.

Mayor George Bridge commended the committee members for their efforts, noting, “Without our hospitals, our economic development wouldn’t continue and thrive the way it does.”