The Moose Mountain Health Care Recruitment Committee hosted its annual fundraising event on Friday, Dec. 11.
The event was rather well attended with over 180 people stopping in to enjoy the evening.
“We are down this year, some of the businesses who usually buy tables were unable to this year,” Sheila Sim, one of the members of the Recruitment Committee explained.
The fundraiser began with cocktails at 6 p.m., followed by supper at 7 p.m., and entertainment beginning around 8 p.m. with Don’t Mind Us Comedy by Saskatoon comedians, Mark Schweighardt and Lee Bells.
Also entertaining the crowd was the new local band, Prairie Sun, which took to the stage before supper and following the comedic performance.
The work that the Recruit Committee does benefits both the Carlyle and the Arcola clinics according to Sim. This includes three currently practicing in Arcola and two practicing doctors in Carlyle, as well as taking care of a locum doctor working out of the Arcola clinic.
“We’re currently in the process of recruiting a fourth physician,” Sim stated. “We’ve been talking to residents who graduate in June, we’ve also been talking to doctors entering SIPPA in January and we’ll see how that goes – the soonest we would see them is in June as well – and we’ve also been in discussion with two U.K. doctors. Those two don’t have to go through SIPPA to come here. So we’ve been working hard to fill that position.”
“We’re always in need of interested people to help, there is always work to be done, and we’re a small group,” Sim explained.
The Recruitment Committee is currently made up of Brenda Walter, Lynn Brady, Bev Grimes, and Sim.
“This is our main fundraiser for the year and we also participate in the Creative Tables for Cancer, those are the only two events we’re really visible, but there’s always something going on for us,” she said. “Right now we have locums coming in so we make sure the house is cleaned – we don’t physically do the cleaning but organize to have someone come in – then we arrange to have the keys at the hospital for them, and it’s just nice to have a local presence for when doctors come to visit.”
“We maintain four houses for doctors in town, all of them furnished, so we’re paying for heat, power, and telephones in the houses, and our group owns one so there’s the mortgage and maintenance on that as well. A few years ago housing was very difficult to find so doctors have been appreciative that we have something for them and they’re attracted to the community because they’re houses with backyards and not just apartments. It’s nice to have that security of having a home which is move-in ready because these doctors are all moving from somewhere.”
The small group is very thankful for the support that the community and surrounding area has given them.
Sim added, “There’s been support through donations and we’ve seen a lot of support of people using our clinics and our outposts: Stoughton, Lampman, Wawota, and White Bear. White Bear has been a great outpost and we’ve seen a lot of support from the residents there. We’ve also been thankful for people reaching out and welcoming the doctors to the community as well; we’ve had a lot of really good support.”
