Advice on Campbell River
 

Well we have some good news in that OH has passed the first exam and subject to the mountain of paperwork being completed has a licence to practice as a family physician in BC :thumbsup:

Pressure is on to apply for jobs now. Campbell River anyone ?

Any information about schools, good parts of town, anything to be careful of etc etc would be great.

Thanks !

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

congratulations! well done. :thumbsup:

elsie lives in campbell river and would be the person for information, i think.
i'm living in the comox valley so you would only get second hand information about campbell river from me.

good luck!:thumbup:

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Hi, we live further down the Island in the Cowichan Valley. The Island is a great place to live and i'm sure you will enjoy it.

A couple of links for schools are the BC School and District website http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/apps/imcl/imclWeb/Home.do and the Fraser Institute http://www.fraserinstitute.org/ and for jobs Vancouver Island Health Authority http://www.viha.ca/

I found out this week that our family doctor is leaving in December from Shawnigan Lake so a job opportunity may arise there - just not in Campbell River and definitely not commutable:)

Hope this helps and good luck.

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

coincidentally just got back from campbell river .. business trip ten days .. great place .. mild climate .. wonderful scenery .. self proclaimed salmon capital of the world

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Hi ..we have family in Campbell River...and we venture up there about once a month.

Personaly i realy love the place. Our family members are professional people and my SIL was born there. their daughter goes to school there and is involved in lots of out of school activities. She is healthy happy and thriving..:)

The people have always been freindly, lovely food, service and shopping. I love to go there and walk around the shore line area, there is always something to watch, sail boats...barges moving crates up and down the coast etc.....a different scene each day.

We are venturing up there this coming weekend...husband is playing hockey......~...or hmmmm i might stay home and enjoy having the place to myself..hehehee:p

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.

I'm so excited that this forum is the only place to let it all out without getting negative comments from family and friends :o

I'll check out the links. In the meantime, for those of you who have been there, any idea why it can't attract Canadian doctors. Based on our research and comments on BE there doesn't seem to be a whole lot against the place ?

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Most new medical school graduates are not interested in going to smaller communities in Canada they all want to stay in larger cities and specialise.

The apparent feeling is and it's not far from the truth unfortunately, is that there is no money to be made as a General Practitioner.

There is a huge shortage of GP's right across the country small town and major cities.

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Not wanting to stay in smaller communities I understand. However, in terms of money I thought a range of CAN250K-CAN320K was good money (at least in my books) and a family of 4 even in BC could 'manage' on that comfortably. Or am I completely missing the point here ...........:confused:

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Campbell River is OK if you like small towns. Forget idyllic small town life as portrayed on TV; we are talking real small towns and all that comes with them. Your family will live very nicely on that income in a place like that. Just ensure you are able to make yourself an active life too, as you will otherwise die of boredom.

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Do you like rain?

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Hi
how long is the process for regitering in B.C as a family physian for a G.P in London , England.

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

The rain I guess we have to put up with. I have a couple of nice umbrellas:thumbup:

The small town thing, didn't realise it was that small. Population was showing as around 29K and it seems to have a fair amount of development going on and apparently a shopping mall and supermarkets etc.

Other options we have been asked to consider by the agency are Duncan and Cumberland but these seemed tiny in comparison ?

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

If you get your ducks in line not too long to get a 'yes we will give you a licence to work in an underserviced community subject to checking your paperwork'.

You need to meet their PG training requirements and just having the JCPTGP does not count. You need the specialities that the Canadians go through.

For us it took about 6 weeks to get the letter from the CPSBC. We are going through Healthmatch BC who have been fantastic all the way. Now the job hunting starts.

If you have any other questions feel free to send me a PM.

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Hi, Duncan may appear tiny, registered population of around 5,000, but this is just for the centre of Duncan. The Cowichan Valley as a whole has over 80,000 people and runs from the Malahat to Ladysmith. It includes the towns of Cobble Hill, Mill Bay, Shawnigan Lake, Lake Cowichan, Cowichan Bay, Maple Bay, Crofton, Chemainus and even though people live in these places there is still the community feeling of all being together in the Cowichan Valley. An example is my son plays soccer in Duncan but it is called the Cowichan Valley Soccer Association and wherever you live in the Valley, you train and play in Duncan. Also Duncan is between Victoria and Nanaimo and is commutable to both places.

As mentioned in a previous post Shawnigan Lake may be looking for a new doctor:)

Campbell River is nice and is good for Island hopping to Quadra or Cortes and of course Salmon fishing. We just had some friends over who was thinking of emigrating up that way but have decided against it but everyone has their own likes and dislikes and preferences where to live (just look at the widespread population of the Canadian Forum on BE).

Have you been over for a visit to the Island?

Re: Advice on Campbell River
 

Frrom the goverment websites averge pay for family doctor in BC for 2007 is 99,500 canadian

http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/...ractice/Salary