The Rural Voice, 2004-06, Page 28.t... -••
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While the problems of hospitals in recruiting professional help are well known, the entire rural infrastructure is suffering.
The professional deficit
Farmers and rural families need the services of professionals from doctors
and nurses to lawyers and accountants but it's becoming harder and harder
to attract young replacements to fill vacancies
We•ve become used to
hearing the plight of rural
communities trying to find
enough doctors to fill their needs but
now it's becoming evident the
professional deficit affects many
areas of rural life.
Recently The Globe and Mail ran
a large story on the difficulty of rural
and small town (even small city) law
firms to attract young graduates to
fill vacancies.
That problem extends to the
accounting profession says Alan
Reed, a partner with BDO in its
Wingham office. "It's hard to recruit
young professionals to rural areas,"
he says. "It has been for a long time."
Some of BDO's larger area offices
have had success maintaining young
interns when they graduate after
working in local offices, Reed says.
Usually if a firm can attract a young
accountant, it's likely because they
came from the area in the first place,
liked it and wanted to come back or
because they had a romantic interest
with someone who came home to, or
relocated to the area.
24 THE RURAL VOICE
By Keith Roulston
Dr. Ross Caslick of the South
Huron Veterinary Clinic in Exeter, in
a recent newspaper article, was
quoted as saying that recruiting Targe
animal vets to rural areas is just as
hard as recruiting lawyers or
accountants because young people
are choosing urban small -animal
practice instead.
Part of the difficulty for recruiters
in all professional fields these days is
the two -profession, two -income
family, Reed points out. You may
have a job to offer to one spouse, but
where does the other professional
find work at the same time?
Companies find themselves trying to
find suitable jobs for the spouse as
well, in order to get the professional
to relocate.
It's a problem that's well known
to medical recruiters who know it's
hard enough to convince a doctor that
rural life is what they want but also
know they must keep the spouse
happy.
Part of the problem is perception.
Thirty years ago there was an
attraction in getting back to a simpler
rural life making it easier to lure
professionals to small towns and the
country, but urban perceptions have
changed.
Speaking to the Ontario Rural
Council last fall. Robert Fulford the
urbane former editor of Saturday
Night magazine outlined the
difficulties faced by rural people
trying to combat urban perceptions.
As Elbert van Donkersgoed
'elaborated, the message was: "City
moves on; rural stays put. Cities offer
endless surprises. They change
everything without asking your
permission. Rural and small towns
provide consistency and
permanency."
That perception is downright
Flattering compared to some views.
In an April 21 article in The National
Post, widely circulated among
incredulous rural economic
development advocates, Lawrence
Solomon, a consistent critic of
agriculture and rural areas claimed
that "For the first time in memory,
possibly for the first time in
Canadian history, a prominent
government panel is recommending
that unsustainable rural areas in