The Citizen, 2010-03-11, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010. PAGE 13.
WALTON 519-887-8429
Workwear
All Work Clothes
20%off
March 12 & 19 ONLY!
• Dotzert Gloves • Baffin Rubber Boots • Terra Work Boots
Hours:
Mon.-Fri.
6:30 am - 7 pm,
Sat. 8 am - 7 pm,
Closed Sun.
Mom’s
fresh baked
goods available
Friday
WINGHAM & DISTRICT HOSPITAL HIGHLIGHTS
“Excellence in Rural Health Care”
Phone: 357-3210 Fax: 357-2931 Website: www.lwha.ca
New Doctor
The Wingham & Area Health Professionals Recruitment Committee together with the Wingham & District
Hospital and North Huron Family Health Team welcome Dr. James Shuffield as he begins his new family
practice at the Wingham & District Health Centre. Dr. Shuffield comes to us from Washington State. He
has previously practiced in Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii. Dr. Shuffield’s wife, Laura Pierce, and their
daughter Tara, are currently residing in Wellesley where Laura is a midwife practicing out of Milverton.
Upon completion of the school year in June, the family will relocate to Wingham. Dr. Shuffield will begin
rostering patients over the next several weeks. If you are currently without a family physician, please reg-
ister with Health Care Connect 1-800-445-1822 or www.ontario.ca/healthcareconnect. For all inquiries
related to accessing a family physician, please contact the North Huron Family Health Team 519-
357-3930
Diabetes Education
The next class will be held on March 17/2010 from 10:00.-3:30pm in the Terrace Room. For more infor-
mation or to register, call Karen Cook, RN/DE at ext. 5362
Reminder to Visitors
Visiting hours are 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. daily. Only 2 visitors per patient at a time. If you are ill, please
do not visit our patients.
Their is a doctor in the house
Doctor James Shuffield, accompanied by Medical Recruitment Officer Jan McKague-Weishar,
has recently joined the staff at Wingham Hospital. The hospital is still seeking five more
doctors to fill out its staff. (Denny Scott photo)
Wingham hospital is one doctorcloser to the full-time six they’relooking for.Dr. James Shuffield, who recently
started seeing patients, is excited
to start practising medicine in
Huron County, and was
extremely happy to find a home in
Wingham.
“[My family was] looking at
several places in Ontario, but
Wingham just seemed to be the best
fit,” He said. “We looked at several
other locations, including Stratford
and Listowel, but Wingham just
seemed like a good place to make a
home.”
A primary contact was also what
helped make up Shuffield’s mind,
according to recruitment officer Joan
McKague-Weishar.
“One person to deal with all the
information that a transfering doctor
needs is definitely a positive move,”
she said.Shuffield will be moving with hisfamily, which consists of wife LauraPierce and eleven-year-old daughterTara, in the new school year. Theyare currently based out of Wellesleywhere his wife works as a
midwife.
“We’re looking forward to the
move, but we want to wait for the
school year to finish out,” He
said.
Educated and trained in Texas, the
American-born Shuffield has
practiced medicine all over the
United States since he graduated
medical school in 1995.
“I’ve worked in Arizona, New
Mexico, Hawaii, and [most recently]
Washington State,” he said.
Shuffield was brought across the
border by his desire to be a family
physician.
“I like the idea of fulfilling the role
of a family physician,” he said. “It’s
great to be involved in all the
families of our patients.”
Shuffield, a primary carephysician by trade, will be a boom tothe local medical clinic according toMcKague-Weishar.“He really helps the clinic byseeing orphaned patients,” she said.“And another doctor to develop a
patient list is great.”
Shuffield said that while he started
recently, the path to migrating a
medical career into Canada is a long
one.
“It took two years to geteverything done and take all the testsI needed,” he said, adding thatHealthforce Ontario, an agency tohelp doctors make the transition,definitely aided him.Shuffield says he looks forward to
his time in the northern part of the
continent, and is excited to try
snowshoeing, cross-country skiing,
and curling.
McKague-Weishar said that, while
finding a new doctor is great, thehospital is still seeking five more, aswell as one nurse practitioner.Patients who don’t have a doctorare encouraged to contactHealthcare Connect at 1-900-445-1822, or go to their website at
www.ontario.ca/healthcareconnect.
For inquiries about finding a
family physician, contact The North
Huron Family Health Team at 519-
357-3930.
Staffing levels in Huron East’s
public works department are right
where they need to be says public
works manager Barry Mills, despite
some skepticism from some
councillors.
After discussion about the staffing
levels of Huron East’s public works
department at council’s Feb. 16
meeting, Mills was asked to prepare
a report for the March 3 meeting,
detailing the department’s need for a
new employee.
The issue was raised when
councillor Larry McGrath
discovered that the department was
looking for a new employee to
replace a long-time full-time staff
member who had just retired.
McGrath said he was under the
impression that the municipality was
going to wait for one year, see how it
could handle the workload without
replacing the employee and possibly
begin to outsource some of the
public works jobs.
Mills, however, felt that the
department was operating at its
minimum complement of employees
before the retirement and that the
department was simply doing its best
in his absence.
The possibility of contracting out
some of the work, especially snow
removal, was raised because of
overtime costs, which McGrath
thought the municipality could save
on if the work was contracted out.
Because the work would be
contacted out, overtime and standby
costs would no longer be an issue,
which McGrath thought was costing
the municipality far too much.
Mills said that most of the
overtime the municipality was
paying was due to having extra staff
on snow removal in the winter and
that it had very little to do with off-
hours work like weekends and
holidays, which was McGrath’s
concern.
Mills said he had called several
neighbouring municipalities and said
that Huron East’s work force is in
line, or even lower than other public
works departments.
“By no means is our staffing fat,”
he said. “We do run a road
complement of over 500 kilometres.”
Mills said that Huron East’s terrain
is large and diverse and that a
talented and knowledgeable staff is
essential to working throughout the
municipality.
In addition to the diversity that is
seen throughout the municipality,
Mills says there is a diverse body of
work that goes into caring for the
Huron East in terms of public works.
“We are a large municipality with
a mix of urban and rural services and
we provide a diverse range of
services over a 12-month period,”
Mills said. “We can complement our
services with part-time staff on an
as-needed basis, but we shouldn’t
compromise our ability to provide
services over a 12-month period by
becoming too dependent on
contracts or part-time employees.”
Council agreed, voting to
authorize the hiring of a new full-
time operator/labourer.
By Denny ScottThe CitizenNew doctor opens up shop at Wingham Hospital
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
New employee is needed