A new doctor has joined the medical clinic in Grand Forks. Dr. Gary Sandhar started last week, taking over the patients of Dr. Max Liu.
It’s the result of a partnership between the City of Grand Forks and Dr. Mark Szynkaruk, who recruited Dr. Sandhar.
In a news release today, the city said another doctor and a medical practitioner are expected to arrive in Grand Forks later this year.
The city said the recruitments have “turned the tide” in addressing a “looming medical crisis” following the recent departures of physicians that left the clinic with just one full-time doctor and two part-time doctors, both nearing retirement.
The city says Dr. Szynkaruk wrote to council last fall about the pending departure of a colleague and offered a solution.
The result was a pilot program that will see Grand Forks pay up to $125,000 of the clinic’s hard costs this year, including rent, utilities and licenses, which are normally shared by the clinic’s doctors.
“These hard costs become a heavier burden when the clinic is not fully staffed, and can be seen as a risk by potential new physicians evaluating a new practice opportunity,” the city said.
The partnership between the city and the clinic makes overhead more manageable for new practitioners, the city said. In return, the community receives physicians who practice in Grand Forks, support long-term care patients and maintain emergency room privileges, helping to keep the hospital’s emergency room open.
“They will also receive valuable mentorship as they begin their family medicine career,” the city said. Once fully staffed, the clinic is expected to support 7,500 patients, providing a family doctor for every resident of Grand Forks and the immediate surrounding area.
Dr. Sandhar joins Drs. Szynkaruk, Walderman Brussow, and Heinrich Brussow at the clinic.
In an interview, mayor Everett Baker said a full complement for the clinic would be seven or eight doctors, so there is still more recruitment to be done. He said other doctors in town not associated with the clinic are also either looking to retire or are not taking new patients.
Baker said while the provision of health care is a provincial matter, the city has no choice but to get involved. He pointed to other municipalities like Colwood, which has established its own clinic and hired a family physician, and Midway, which is doing something similar on a smaller scale.
“We’ve got to be creative,” Baker said. “Talk about economic development. If you don’t have a hospital, you don’t have doctors … One of the crucial reasons people move to the community is because we have all these things.
“If we want to help Grand Forks grow and open the doors for new families to come to our community, you’ve got to have a family doc, and with the help of Dr. Szynkaruk, who I can’t thank enough, we’ll be able to provide that to our citizens.”
