ALBERTON, P.E.I. - Krystyna Pottier remembers, as a child of six or seven, walking down the street on her own, a dime in her pocket, to visit Roy Leard’s candy store.
There’s no longer a candy store in downtown Alberton, but Pottier says that sense of Alberton being a safe place to raise children remains.
It is one of the points she highlights when she hosts site visits for doctors who are considering moving into vacant physician positions in West Prince.
“It’s just a really good place to live, in terms of being a safe community.”
Her late father, Dr. Stanley Hellmich, had served as a medical doctor in Alberton from 1954 to 1988.
“My father, I know, was held in great esteem in this community. As a matter of fact, people still talk to me about him, and he died almost 20 years ago in Ontario, after having left here 30 years ago, almost.”
Related: Physician shortages persist in West Prince as more retirements loom
Pottier says she doesn’t sugar-coat her presentation.
“I tell physicians, ‘it can be very snowy, and somewhat cold winters and, if you live on a dirt road, you’re going to have trouble, unless you have a four-wheel drive, come the spring.”
“If you sold a house in Toronto, you could buy a beautiful place down here and still have money left in the bank.”
-Krystyna Pottier
She does, however, focus on the positives.
“You work in the hospital; the people are amazing who work there.
“You walk down the street and people speak to you, they know who you are. You go into the stores and people call you by name.”
It’s also less costly to live in Alberton than in a city, she suggested.
“If you sold a house in Toronto, you could buy a beautiful place down here and still have money left in the bank.”
West Prince is currently three physicians, or 25 per cent, short of its complement of 12 physicians. It is in need of two family physicians and one emergency room doctor.
There are also indications three physicians in the area are looking to retire over the next two years.
She is also part of a recently formed committee consisting of representatives of Western and Community Hospitals’ foundations and auxiliaries, town council members from Tignish, Alberton and O’Leary, the West Prince Chamber of Commerce and Health P.E.I., which is focused on physician recruitment.
“We’re trying to learn from what other communities have done and trying to see what we can do here to entice people and, once they get here, to make sure they stay.
“We’re very hopeful.”
