At this time last year, finding a family doctor in Cochrane was impossible. Now, thanks to the help of the Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network (PCN), the town has five doctors currently accepting new patients.
“The Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network is a group of more than 400 family doctors who work with teams of other health professionals to offer patients the best in primary health care. Our PCN serves more than 370,000 patients in north Calgary and Cochrane,” states the Calgary Foothills PCN’s website.
According to David Crocker with the Calgary Foothills PCN, the initial shortage of doctors in Cochrane was the result of a few different factors. He thinks the town’s distance from Calgary may have been part of it. Cochrane’s growing population may have also made it difficult for every resident to see a physician.
Currently accepting new patients in the Town of Cochrane are: Dr. Mike Thompson, Dr. Don Punch, Dr. Khalid Zaman, who are all with the Cochrane Primary Care Centre, Dr. Dennis Hayes with Evolve Medical Clinic, and Dr. James Chang with Lahey Medical Centre.
Though there are a number of walk-in clinics within the area, these doctors want to stress the importance of having one primary physician.
“Continuity of care is so important – in my opinion, people benefit from having the same person they can go back to about any issues,” Thompson said.
“It’s having that relationship with a family across generations and offering that continuity long-term; we’re in it for the long-haul,” Zaman said.
“We’re essentially the last remaining generalist in medicine these days, everything else is specialized – general or family physicians know a bit about everything and can coordinate the care a patient receives,” Punch said.
Punch went on to explain that family doctors are “experts in uncertainty” and can often times identify a patient’s symptom or problem after one consultation and determine if its something to be concerned about; they provide “holistic” care that addresses all of a patient’s concerns/symptoms.
All three doctors at the Primary Care Centre are relatively new to the area and are looking to take on around 1,000 to 1,500 patients depending on their individual availability.
As for how often a person should be visiting their family doctor, they agree it depends on the person’s overall health, age, and other variables.
The process of choosing a family doctor involves having a “meet and greet” with a physician in order to see if they are a suitable match. If things go well, the patient signs a release to have their medical records transferred from their previous doctor to their new one.
The Calgary Foothills PCN recently revamped their website that aids people in the area in finding a family doctor, www.calgaryareadocs.com, for anyone interested.
