Lack of family doctors leads to pain, frustration for patients in Steinbach area
CBC
Samantha Farrell says the emergency department in Steinbach has effectively become her doctor's office.
Without a family doctor or the means to travel to Winnipeg, she only gets medical care when she cannot wait any longer.
Since losing her family doctor in 2020, Farrell has gone to the ER in the southeastern Manitoba city three times to cope with ovarian cyst pain, including last month, when a cyst ruptured.
"It really shouldn't be that way," she said. "I mean, Steinbach's considered a city — why don't we have a doctor, or many?"
There are about 10 physician vacancies in the Steinbach area, and 3,500 people are looking for a doctor through the province's family doctor finder program, according to Southern Health, the regional health authority that covers the area.
People in the Steinbach region who register for that program are being informed that there are no physicians accepting patients in their area, Southern Health confirmed in a statement.
Steinbach's population is nearly 18,000 people, according to 2021 census data — up by 1,800 people from the 2016 census. Thousands more live in surrounding communities.
Farrell said it's frustrating the emergency department at Steinbach's Bethesda Hospital has become her only choice.
"I shouldn't have had to go to the ER for a ruptured cyst. It never should have happened. And here I'm a stress on the ER department that has a waiting room full of people," she said.
"All they can do for me is book me for an ultrasound later, get me some painkillers and send me home with a list of, 'If this happens, come back.'"
Farrell said regular pap smears would prevent future ER visits, but she's been told family physicians in Steinbach cannot accept any more patients.
Same-day appointments at a clinic, if you can get them, aren't sufficient because doctors will try to book her for a pap smear in Winnipeg, Farrell said — a roughly 60-kilometre drive.
She doesn't have a vehicle and there's no bus option. Taxi fare would be around $150, she said.
"That's money a single mom like me doesn't necessarily have," said Farrell.