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Join me in welcoming Dr. Ennett to RR

Dear Editor,
I am very pleased to report that the physician contract that has been vacant since last October has been signed by Dr. Joe Ennett. Many of you have been looked after by him already, as he has been a locum here frequently over the last ten months.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Ennett. Our plan is to provide, between the two of us, health care here for at least the next four years. We will, as before, continue to rely on locums to assist us. Although Dr. Ennett will remain based in Stratford, he will fly his airplane in to work in one-week blocks.
I am also pleased to have the support of the Health Force Ontario Marketing and Recruitment Agency (HFO MRA), the provincial agency that helps recruit physicians. In the event that a manpower problem arises leaving the community with a single physician we will have their involvement at a very early stage in order to support the remaining physician. HFO MRA continues to assist Riverside in developing programs and strategies to recruit physicians to the district and to source and schedule locums.
As well, we will be having discussions with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care about how to avoid a repetition of the urgent situation that arose here last fall, both here and in other two-doctor communities.
I would like to thank the citizens of this area for their patience during this period of uncertainty regarding physician manpower. I would also like to acknowledge the flexibility of the hospital and clinic staff as they welcomed and worked with a changing roster of locums. Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Allan Katz, the new CEO of Riverside, for his interest in and invaluable support of the Rainy River Health Centre and Clinic.

–Sincerely,
Dr. David Singleton