Arkona welcoming new doc in September

Arkona is getting a family doctor again.

The small community in Lambton Shores had two physicians practicing out of the Arkona Medical Center until a five-year incentive program for the married couple, via the Arkona Lions Club, ran out and their practice closed this year, said Pete Sisler, with the club that built the medical center in 1969.

The 25-member club and Blue Coast Primary Care recently announced Dr. Farahnaz Farzadfar is accepting new patients and will begin practicing in mid-September.

Farzadfar, who has been practicing at a medical clinic in Zurich, has accepted a five-year incentive package via the club, Sisler said.

“We have our phones hooked up now and if people want to call in to get signed up, they can leave a message and our receptionist can get back to them,” he said, noting patients who had to go elsewhere have started to return.

“I would say two-thirds of them just right now are coming back,” he said, estimating doctors Connor and Kristina Rice had a patient roster of about 1,500.

According to arkonamedicalcentre.ca, their practice closed Feb. 1.

Receptionist Joanne Shepherd, who’s worked at the clinic for decades, also is returning, Sisler said.

The community went without a family doctor between 2016 and 2018, according to the village.

The club, meanwhile, invested about $120,000 to improve the medical centre, which also houses a dental practice, in 2018, Sisler said.

Hopes are to start building a 1,400-square-foot (130-square-metre) expansion for the “very, very busy” practice later this year, he said.

The process to replace medical care in Arkona shows the importance of having an experienced physician recruiter, said Carly Cox, recruiter with Blue Coast Primary Care.

“Lambton Shores had three physicians prior to December of 2022 and they all retired or relocated,” she said.

The municipality hasn’t funded Blue Coast in recent years, but this year provided about $11,000, or about one dollar per resident, she said.

“They brought me in (to deal with) essentially a crisis,” she said. “And I knew where to look because of the experience I have.”

Sarnia, which has funded the task force since its inception, made the same dollar-per-person funding commitment for four yearsand Point Edward and Enniskillen also provide funding, Cox said.

Blue Coast, previously the Sarnia-Lambton Physician Recruitment Task Force, has recruited 44 physicians, including Farzadfar, since 2002, she said.

“Our mandate has been in the past that we recruit for all of Lambton County and that will always be the intention,” she said. “But unfortunately we are also running a not-for-profit business and the money has to come from somewhere.

“So, the communities that do fund us are the communities that do get priority.”

Patients wanting to sign up with Farzadfar can call 519-828-3821, or email [email protected].

For more about Blue Coast, visit bluecoastprimarycare.com,