17 | durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, November 24, 2022 | Across Durham, Lowe's and Rona store customers raised $42,441 last month to support local charities. The annual Lowe's Canada Heroes campaign, which includes Rona stores, ran from Thursday, Sept. 1 to Friday, Oct. 7. Six Durham home-improvement retail stores took part in the fundraiser. Each store supported a different local charity: • Rona Uxbridge raised $11,826 for Precious Minds Support Services. • Rona Port Perry raised $9,149 for Operation Scugog. • Lowe's Oshawa raised $7,603 for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of South West Durham and Northumberland. • Lowe's Whitby raised $7,169 for Back Door Mission for the Relief of Poverty. • Lowe's Pickering raised $5,254 for Frontenac Youth Services. • Rona The Hardware Store Inc. in Newcastle raised $1,440 for Durham Hospice. Over the campaign, employees got creative with big in-store displays and by selling raffle tickets to raise the most funds possible for their charity of choice. Lowe's Canada matched 50 per cent of all donations, up to $2,000 per location. LOWE'S, RONA RAKE IN THE CASH FOR CHARITIES Employees and customers at Rona Port Perry raised $9,149 for Operation Scugog during the annual Lowe's Canada Heroes campaign. Lowe's Canada photo BUSINESS EACH STORE SUPPORTED A DIFFERENT LOCAL CHARITY IN CANADA HEROES CAMPAIGN Durham, both Kevin and Nicole do have family doctors from where they moved, his in Markham, hers in Richmond Hill. When their newborn needed medical attention, they saw a Durham pediatrician at a walk-in clinic who told them she was not taking new patients. After that visit, Mills said he and Nicole had to drive an hour and a half three times per week for three months to Nicole's family doctor in Richmond Hill for the newborn's appointments. "It's terrible," Mills said about the Durham family doctor situation. Dr. Tony Stone, chief of staff at Lakeridge Health and a family doctor himself, understands the problem. "Access to family medicine and primary care is going to become a big problem and is a growing problem. Recent stats suggest up to roughly 1.8 million Ontarians lack adequate access to a family physician and appropriate comprehensive primary care. Another 1.7 million Ontarians have a family doc who is 65 or older. There's a big problem," said Stone. It's not clear precisely how many residents in Durham region do not have a family doctor. The population of Ontario is 15 million people, according to the latest available statistics, meaning about 12 per cent of Ontarians don't have a family doctor. Durham's population is just over 700,000, which makes it safe to assume close to 85,000 people don't have a family doctor. The problem could be exacerbated in Durham due to the region's growth. Durham has expanded by 25 per cent in just 15 years from 2006 to 2021. However, an Angus Reid survey done in August 2022 suggests as many as 20 per cent of Canadians do not have a family doctor. The family doctor shortage increases pressures on emergency departments, already overwhelmed due to staff shortages, and walk-in clinics since those without a primary care physician have nowhere else to turn to for medical care. Megan Lawrence, 27, is struggling to find a family doctor after moving to Durham from Toronto. Her family doctor in Toronto retired. "At first, I hoped to find a female doctor and then when I realized doctors were so few and far between, I expanded my search and became open to finding a male doctor but have had no success at finding either. I have probably contacted close to 30 different medical centres, practices, and have had zero success," Lawrence said. "I don't have anyone I can rely on for support if I need it," she said. Lawrence said she tried calling a medical centre down the street where she lives that she said just opened. "I thought there's no way they wouldn't have a vacancy for patients, but within a week they'd filled up and weren't accepting any new patients." Like the situation with the Mills family, many incoming Durham residents face the catch-22 of having to give up their family doctor outside of Durham before they can even attempt to get a new family doctor in Durham. Fearful of being unable to find a family doctor in Durham, newcomers to the region hold onto their current family doctor even if it means hours of commuting. Karla Cadario Moreno, who lives in Oshawa, moved to the city in July 2021. She and her husband have family doctors in Toronto, but her husband's doctor is retiring, and she's just had a new baby son. "The commute is far away for appointments and I need a new family doctor for my baby and for my partner," Moreno said. "Whenever I call and they ask if I have a family doctor and they find out I have one, they say 'no' -- there are already too many people with a family doctor," Moreno added. She said she has an Excel spreadsheet with 10 different clinics listed throughout Oshawa, Whitby and Ajax that she checks for openings. "When you call, they say they have 2,000 applications from people, so they are not taking anyone now," Moreno said. Many have tried the Ministry of Health website- to find a family doctor through Health Care Connect, but say it hasn't been successful in helping them get a local family doctor in Durham. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Durham residents, like those everywhere in Canada, are struggling to find a family doctor. We asked a number of them what it's like trying to find a primary care physician in the Region. NEWS Continued from page 3 'I HAVE PROBABLY CONTACTED CLOSE TO 30 DIFFERENT MEDICAL CENTRES, PRACTICES, AND HAVE HAD ZERO SUCCESS' Megan Lawrence moved to Whitby earlier this year. She doesn't have a family doctor and has been searching everywhere to find one with no success. Megan Lawrence photo