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stouffville suntribune thursday april 6 2006 3 crisis by numbers drop in doctors ontario is short 2353 doc tors by 2010that deficit will reach 2828 third worst ontario with one md for every 566 patients has the third worst patient- tophysician ratio in canada were get ting older there are 179300 people aged 55 to 89 in yorkby2031this age group is pro jected to more than double to 473100 the 80 to 84 age group will increase from 11100 today to 40100 in 2031 ready to retire nineteen per cent of mds are over60and11per cent are over 65 bringing in doaors the ontario medical association recommendations to counter the loss of doctors eliminate bar riers that keep doctors who are working abroad from returning allowfreer movement of physicians between provinces establish an action committee on the family medi cine crisis and eliminate restrictions and penalties in effect for reentry posi tions by michael power staff writer a warning for those contemplat ing a move to york region if you think the area will offer a healthier lifestyle than toronto in the coming decades think twice with the regions population expect- ed to hit 15 million people by 2031 expect more pressure on health ser vices including the ratio of doctors to patients you might also see longer com mutes and worsening air and water quality as well as less luck finding recreational area where you can exer cise such as parks landing more doctors will help ser vice the regions expanding population but finding those doctors will take a better effort on the part of the province georgina mayor rob grossi said i think they are doing things that need to be done to employ more doc tors mr grossi said but they are things that should have been done 10 or 12 years ago so now were playing catch up these kinds of things dont happen overnight that includes ensuring doctors who come here from overseas can get accredited in ontario and start practis ing here as soon as possible the province has already dubbed georgina an underserviced area for doctors and provided the municipality with funds to help fix the problem that has put the town in the unique position of being able to actively scout for health care workers mayor grossi said for example two nurse practi tioners have recently started working at the georgina medical centre and another is scheduledto start soon theres a lot of work being done in the town of georgina to attract doc tors he said weve been very proac- tive over the last few years and even more so in the last few months but advertising for new doctors and attracting them to a rural areas remains a work in progress said gary shienfield vicepresident of the georgina community health care council the town recently bought the long standing georgina medical centre our mandate is to attract and maintain physicians and in order to do that we need a place to house them he said those facilities will help attract doctors as far as oak ridges mp frank klees is concerned there are plenty of doc tors to go around the key is making sure physicians here get qualified to practise as quickly as possible one of the quickest ways to get a doctor in the gta is to call 9671111 pizza pizzas number because we have so many doctors delivering pizzas these days he said ontario isnt suffering a shortage of mohj in this comprehensive series discussing the regions burgeoning growth and how best to manage it we will delve into the following topics march 16 planning for growth march 23 economics of growth march 30 growing green today healthy communities apn113 livable lifestyles april 20 getting around if you missed an earlier topic check it out at wwwyorkregioncom doctors they simply arent allowed to practise and many of these are foreign doctors the first step is to lower the barriers that keep those physicians from prac tising here mr klees said that includes creating more resi dency spaces for doctors who are oth erwise qualified to practise in ontario what will york regions doctor situa tion look like in 20 years if that doesnt happen we cant even allow ourselves to imagine those circumstances mr klees said but doctors focus on treating illness york region residents must also have the tools to stay fit and healthy in the coming decades and suburban housing develop ments dont always give people those tools retired york uni versity professor edmund fowler said whats been shown in spades is that the air quality in the suburbs is worse than the air quality downtown said mr fowler who taught municipal government for 30 years at the uni versitys glendon col lege- people who live in suburban neighbour hoods often havefewer opportunities to walk and cycle compared to those living in urban centres mr fowler added in fact a report from the ontario college of family physicians notes the loops crescents and culdesacs of suburban neighbourhoods keeps resi dents behind the wheel urban sprawl communities sepa rate peoples homes from stores offices services and restaurants the report reads this makes it nearly impossible for people to carry out errands or go to work without using their cars that can lead to higher rates of obe sity among those living in suburban communities and obesity isnt cheap the problem caused more than 4000 deaths 2000 and ran up a 43 billion bill for canadas health care system and the oceanic parking lots found at suburban strip malls causes rain to pick up oil gas and other substances before draining off that can hurt the quality of water and soil found in gta regions such as york mr fowler said it goes from class a farmland to polluted- compacted soil he said once you pave over land like that its extremely difficult to get it back mr fowler pointed to limiting growth through an urban growth boundary as a possible way to improve the health of residents such a bound ary would limit the distance housing developments would be allowed to sprawl outward and hopefully limit the health concerns that come with suburban development but i gary shienfeld georgina com munity health council vicepresi dent says attracting doctors remains a challenge know developers will scream he said urban growth boundaries were introduced in oregon in the 1970s the boundaries have helped that state pro tect land and reduce air pollution said david bragdon president of oregons regional planning agency but by concentrating services and living areas within urban space the boundaries also encourage people to walk or ride bicycles instead of hopping behind the wheel mr bragdon said in the end more walkable areas means that people will end up walking more he said york has plans to make its commu nities more dense and connected said commissioner of planning and devel opment bryan tuckey that includes beefing up public transit to ease the crush commuters face during rush hour an example is downtown markham a planned compact community bordered by hwys 7 and 407 warden avenue and kennedy road that will feature housing employment and other uses for more on the project visityorkregioncom and click on growth for a video story allowing for a more mixed land use will cre ate more jobs in the region that shorter commute will cut air pol lution and encourage people to walk or cycle to work the region also hopes to connectcycling trails he added that is very much the vision of our council and urban structure for the long term in york region and i think it really begins to change the structure of the region and will change the health of the region mr tuckey said ere for opinions im not responsible for your children weve sunk so far into the nanny state syn drome that weve even got conservatives dumping billions of dollars into child care with the tory plan thats 1200 for each kid per year while the loopy liberals and out-to- com it clicks home lunch ndp are screaming for a national subsi dized daycare plan more billions the grits and ndippers are even threaten ing to topple harpers minority government if they dont get their way sound like spoiled brats throwing a temper tantrum to me what has the lefties in a lather youll find the rest in johns f blog on yorkregioncom read john slykhuis in the right in our blogs section