The moment Dr. Ali Akbar Bohra laid eyes on Haliburton, he said it was love at first sight.
One of the five new physicians to land in cottage country over the past 18 months, Bohra said all it took was a quick Google search to convince he and his family that their future lay in the Highlands. He joined the emergency department at the Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) in May 2024.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Bohra completed medical training in his home country before spending 15 years practising in England, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. While working as a trauma doctor in the UK, he saw an ad in the British Medical Journal promoting a better standard of living in smalltown Ontario. Embedded among the words was a picture of Head Lake in Haliburton village.
Bohra did some digging, finding more photos of sprawling Highlands landscapes online.
“I fell in love with this scenic small town and decided, firmly, from that moment onwards that I wanted to work in this beautiful community,” Bohra told The Highlander.
It’s the kind of thing Wendy Welch, Haliburton County’s physician recruiter, has heard time and again from professionals interested in relocating somewhere peaceful, where doctors are afforded a better work-life balance and standard of living.
County has increased recruitment incentives
Since the upper tier adjusted its recruitment guidelines early last year, Welch said there’s been a marked increase in the number of working professionals reaching out, asking about opportunities that exist in the community. The County offers doctors up to $150,000 to relocate here, while reimbursing moving expenses up to $15,000. To qualify, physicians must commit to practising in the area for at least two years. Payments are staggered at $25,000 annually for up to six years.
There are other programs Welch can tap into, offered through the Ministry of Health. Canadian-trained physicians qualify for student loan forgiveness up to $60,000, while the recently revamped Northern Rural Recruitment and Retention Fund (NRRR) offers bonuses up to $97,000.
There are other perks too – one-year memberships to the Minden Recreation Centre and the Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre, while the County maintains two properties doctors can use while they’re finding a more permanent home. Welch said this is particularly helpful when medical students and locum physicians are here temporarily.
“A lot of the people I speak to are looking for a smaller community, a safe place, somewhere they feel more appreciated in their practise, where they can get to know their patients,” Welch said.
Other recent additions include Dr. Harrison Bishop and Dr. Peter Faulkner at HHHS, Dr. Sharysse Kayoumedjian at the Haliburton Family Medical Centre (HFMC), and Dr. Van Der Leden at the Kinmount & District Health Centre.
A unique welcome
Bishop is no stranger to the County, having worked intermittently at the Haliburton hospital as a locum for several years. He started working full-time at the facility July 1.
Born in rural Prince Edward County, before the vineyards when it was predominantly dairy farms and cash crops, Bishop said he feels at home in the Highlands. He’s making the permanent move north after working out of hospitals in Quinte and Cobourg, saying this area, with its beautiful landscapes, is the perfect place to raise his family.
“Everyone has been so welcoming,” Bishop said, noting that’s not isolated to human encounters. “While sitting on our dock one evening, I noticed a beaver swimming by. Rather than slapping his tail and disappearing under the water, he decided to course back and forth in front of me for a good 10 minutes. I felt like he was welcoming me to the neighbourhood.”
Faulkner has been working part-time in Haliburton since 2016, though was only available during the summer and fall as his cottage was a seasonal property. After recently upgrading the residence, the doctor has made himself available to HHHS year-round.
He was born and raised in Toronto, attending medical school at nearby McMaster University. He’s worked in emergency departments in Niagara region, Hamilton and Burlington, along with a year-long stint in rural Australia.
Nothing compares to his experiences in Haliburton, though. “I enjoy the strong sense of community – very different from city life… you get to know the people you work with,” Faulkner said. “This is the only place I’ve worked where you can watch the deer feeding on vegetation right beside the parking lot, kind of a novelty for a city guy.”
Success story
While, geographically, Kinmount isn’t within County limits, Welch said the rural health hub there qualifies for local support since it accepts patients from Haliburton County.
Alan Howard, a volunteer and lead recruiter with the Kinmount District Health Services Foundation (KDHSF) – the fundraising arm of the clinic – said he and his team have had a lot of success attracting doctors over the past few years. Dr. Lesslie Ponraja arrived from the UK in February 2023, with Van Der Leden following this past February. This is the first time the clinic has had two full-time doctors in at least six years.
Where Welch relies on advertising and job fairs for finding physicians, KDHSF utilizes a recruitment agency based in British Columbia. The firm connects interested doctors with Howard, who schedules visits. Van Der Leden made her first pitstop last July.
She’s glad she followed through – admitting in a recent interview she almost cancelled after doubting whether she’d be prepared to move to a community with a population of about 500. She had spent years working in Chicago, the third most populated city in the U.S.
Van Der Leden was born and raised in Ontario and decided to return home after learning about the province’s healthcare crisis. She expects to take on more than 1,000 patients.
“I can’t take 4,000, but hopefully I can make a little dent,” Van Der Leden said. The KDHC waitlist has more than 2,000 people, there’s another 1,450 on the HFMC list, and at least 3,000 County and Kawartha Lakes residents waiting through Health Force Ontario. Howard noted KDHSF is looking to recruit a third full-time physician to further chip away at that total.
Van Der Leden’s favourite thing about her new community is the people, saying, “everyone is so nice, really warm and welcoming. This has definitely been the right decision for me.”
