Drayton Valley clinic to receive provincial grant for non-physician recruitment

Drayton Valley is home to one of 29 clinics set to receive Rural Team Recruitment grant funding to support the hiring of non-physician health professionals in an effort to diversify local services.

The Government of Alberta is distributing grants under two programs, intended to support physician training and help primary care clinics across rural Alberta grow their teams.

This includes a $16 million pilot bursary program that should support 74 family medicine residents expected to begin practising in rural communities between now and July 2027. Additionally, the Rural Team Recruitment Grant will provide $6 million over two years to help clinics hire non-physician health professionals to expand their teams and the range of services available locally.

“Our bursary program will help bring more family doctors to rural communities, and the team-based care grants mean Albertans will have better access to health professionals who can support their needs,” commented Adriana LaGrange, minister of primary and preventative health services. “Physicians are choosing to practise in Alberta in record numbers, especially family doctors, and we’re working to make sure they increase access for patients in rural Alberta as well as in the cities.”

In addition to Drayton Valley, clinics in Barrhead, Bashaw and 26 other communities will also receive funding under the Rural Team Recruitment program. The government says approximately 52 new full-time health professionals are expected to be hired through this program, with a second intake round opening soon.

Alternatively, the Rural and Remote Family Medicine Resident Physician Bursary Pilot Program is designed to attract and retain physicians to rural communities through bursaries of $125,000 for rural placements and $200,000 for remote placements to residents who commit to working in eligible communities once their training is complete.

These bursaries are available to students from any Canadian university who have matched to a family medicine residency program at the University of Alberta or University of Calgary.