It’s time to once again offer a hearty thank you to the people who are helping improve the health of people in the Friendly City.

Belleville’s Doctor Recruitment Program (which now includes nurses and specialists) has been scoring wins left, right, and centre lately, with announcements about four new doctors over the past two weeks alone and more expected in the near future.

The latest example was two sisters studying at Queen’s who will be setting up practice in Belleville in 2025 and 2026.

Attracting medical professionals was never supposed to be a municipal responsibility, but local governments have taken on the challenge with Quinte West and Belleville especially experiencing strong results over the past year.

In Belleville, we can thank the previous Council led by Mayor Neil Ellis for following Hastings County’s example and implementing the program around 2006.

More recently, we can thank Manager of Physician Recruitment and Retention Karen Poste. When she was Manager of Economic Development, this was about 5-10% of her focus. Now that she is fully invested in this area, we are seeing amazing results that I expect to continue.

So a hearty and healthy thank you to Mayor Ellis, current and past Councilors, and especially Karen Poste for doing such a good job of selling the friendly city to the medical community. Your efforts to help expand healthcare coverage to the entire community are noticed, admired, and greatly appreciated.

I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.