Cure for family doctor shortage found in Cochrane

Good news for families in Cochrane.  The wait is over. There are now five doctors currently accepting new patients in Cochrane at three clinics in town.

For a long time, even as recently as last year, residents were concerned about the lack of available family doctors in Cochrane.  Some families in Cochrane sought medical care on the north western edge of Calgary, but would rather stay in town with a general practitioner.

Developers and realtors in Cochrane heard first-hand from potential buyers who were thinking of purchasing a new home in Cochrane but were dismayed over the shortage of family doctors.

Thanks to the efforts of the local Primary Care Network and Alberta Health Services, new family doctors have been lured to Cochrane to establish a family practice for Cochrane residents.

Primary Care Networks and AHS have done extensive work to bring more doctors in the province and to make the family practice more attractive for young people entering medical school.  This has been a decade-long initiative to provide support for aspiring doctors in the province and is now beginning to pay off.

One of the things that PCNs have done is to organize networks of specialists for doctors to access, rather than having doctors doing the research and forming their own group of specialized care professionals and after-hours on call personnel.  This has saved busy doctors time and has alleviated unnecessary stress.  This simple step has made setting up a family practice a more viable proposition for new doctors, as they have to operate their practice as a business.

One of the reasons why these new doctors have come to Cochrane is because of the lifestyle.

One of the new doctors told the Cochrane Times that he came to Cochrane from England where five years ago to look around. After visiting in B.C. and in Banff, he thought we had a great country and a great way of life.  Dr. Kahlid Zaman had been practicing in England for 13 years before he made the jump across the pond.

The immigration process took two years and Dr. Zaman did most of the legwork himself.  He moved here with his wife and daughter just before Christmas. While he had several locations in mind in the southern part of our province, he picked Cochrane because of the skill set of staff at the Cochrane Primary Care Centre and because historically, the clinic puts emphasis on teaching. Plus, the diversity of the community was attractive to him

Family doctors generally have up to 1,200 patients in their files.  Dr. Zaman has developed his own website to let people know he is available for new patients.  He’s pleased at the welcome he’s received and feels some satisfaction that he is part of the solution to the problem of limited family care in Cochrane.

People interested in learning more about the five can check out “Find a Doctor” online. There is also calgaryareadocs.com or Cochrane residents can call Health Link at 8-1-1. This is a free service.

Clinics in Cochrane with new doctors include:

Evolve Medical Clinic - 15 Quarry Street West

Cochrane Primary Care Centre - 100 Grand Boulevard

Lahey Medical Centre - 120 – 5 Avenue