'It's so sad': Retired N.S. doctor feels she 'abandoned' her patients
Retirement is bittersweet, said Dr. Deanna Swinamer, as she spent a rare few minutes in her old office at the clinic in Hammonds Plains, N.S., Tuesday.
"It is far less stressful," said Swinamer with a smile.
"Finally having a chance to breathe. I'm finding great enjoyment in many little things."
After decades of providing care to thousands of patients, she finally saw the last of them in late-December.
It was the added stress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that finally broke the camel's back - and the doctor's heart.
"I ended up abandoning another 2,000 patients that I care very deeply about. I've been here caring for the same people for the past 23 years, since I moved to Nova Scotia, and it's heartbreaking," she said.
"Since COVID hit, the last two and a half years have been probably the worst years that I've practiced in family practice. And we stayed, I stayed. I saw patients during COVID. I did not completely go to just a phone call. We saw people, because people needed to be seen."
It wasn't a last minute decision.
Swinamer started telling patients months in advance and even started lobbying government to find a replacement.
She also sat down for an interview with a newly graduated doctor.
"And he said to me, 'Dr. Swinamer, nobody's going to do what you do.'"
In March of 2022, Swinamer met with Nova Scotia's Healthcare Recruitment Office.
"And so that went on for a while. I certainly met with several people, but nobody wanted to come and do what I do at this clinic," said Swinamer.
In an email to CTV News, Nova Scotia Health confirmed work was underway to find a replacement.
"Recruitment efforts are ongoing and Hammonds Plains is a priority for us in Central Zone," said Brendan Elliott, media relations senior advisor for NS Health.
“There have been four site visits by prospective primary care providers to the clinic between March and September. We have a posting up for locum coverage for another physician in the clinic to provide relief while we continue to recruit for Dr. Swinamer’s vacancy."
Meantime, a former patient of Swinamer's also launched a campaign to help find a replacement, lobbying the government through phone calls and emails.
"I finally got an email back in late December from them, saying that a family doctor was going to be in place soon," said Jean Lumsden, a resident of Lewis Lake, N.S.
Lumsden said, when Dr. Swinamer mentioned she would be retiring, the first thing she felt was panic.
“Because you don't know what you're going to do," said Lumsden.
"I just assumed someone would be coming in."
In the meantime, Lumsden and her family have joined the nearly 130,000 Nova Scotians on a waitlist to find a primary care provider.
"We're searching. We're hoping. Fingers crossed," said Lumsden.
Swinamer takes some solace in knowing walk-in doctors at the clinic have agreed to see her patients because the files are still there, but it's hardly what she was hoping for.
"It's not a great solution, but the system is so broken right now," she said.
"It's so sad."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.