the City of Cold Lake is introducing a new incentive to recruit more doctors.
“One of the challenges we have heard that makes a transition for doctors in coming to Cold Lake, is bridge income to get them started and settled in and place roots in our community,” said Mayor Craig Copeland in a press release today. “For new doctors, and especially doctors new to Canada, it can be a challenge to get the credit they need to make the move to a new community.”
Any doctor in the city can get a $50,000 line of credit without paying interest for two years.
“With this help, we hope that new doctors can focus on getting established in the community,” Copeland said.
The program is open to physicians that have a contract with AHS and who practice in the City of Cold Lake.
“Some doctors coming in from overseas cannot secure a loan of this size without help,” added Copeland. “We want to provide that help, so they in turn can help our community.”
The city says this method allows flexibility in wha the doctor might spend the money on. Many doctors from other countries don’t have any sort of credit rating at all.
“Since 2006, the availability of physicians in Cold Lake has been a priority for council,” the press release says. “Despite an overall increase in physicians throughout rural Alberta, there has been no significant increase in the number of physicians in Cold Lake over the last ten years, because the number of physicians recruited has been offset by the number that has left.”