Doctor Richard Weldon signs on with Lakelands Family Health Team

Jeff Green | Sep 19, 2024

At a ceremony in his office at Lakelands Family Health Team in Northbrook, Dr. Richard Weldon, who emigrated to Canada from Wales late last month, formally signed an incentive agreement to practice medicine at the clinic for five years.

The ceremony was attended by members of the councils of Addington Highlands and North Frontenac, Lakelands Board members, Dr. Tam (the lead physician at the clinic), the Family Health Team, Eric Tobia (pharmacist), as well as the mayor of North Frontenac, the reeve of Addington Highlands and Chief Administrators from each township.

The townships combined their resources to provide $30,000 per year for 5 years, provided Dr. Weldon maintains his practice over that time.

As he signed the paperwork to formalise the agreement and received the first cheques from the two townships, Dr. Weldon said, “I'd just like to thank you for the opportunity. The community has been so kind and caring, and everyone has been so accepting,”. He was joined at the signing ceremony by his wife Rebecca. The couple have two school-aged boys who are already attending North Addington Education Centre. They arrived in late August in order to be in place for the start of the school year on September 4th.

Jan Powell, who has been Executive Director at Lakelands since it was established in 2010,  said that she was encouraged when the Weldons came for an exploratory visit to Northbrook last November, “At the end of the visit, Richard said one word to me that made me feel optimistic. He said, Jan, I'm keen. I thought, wow, I hope that means the same thing over there as it does over here.”

She thanked the townships, who have worked together on physician recruitment drives and other aspects of the clinic since its inception, and mentioned her contact with the Ontario Ministry of Health, Fernando Tavares.

When Lakelands started, Tavares was a Program Manager for Family Health Teams and helped establish the funding and processes.

“And he is still with us,” said Powell.

She said that she contacted him about this latest recruitment for direction, which resulted in the hiring of a recruitment agency.

Meanwhile, in Wales, where Dr.Weldon was practising emergency medicine, he was ready for something new.

One of the issues was the state of healthcare in the UK and its impact on his practice.

The tipping point was an outbreak of Scarlet Fever in late 2023.

“I was working the night shift in our local hospital and actually kind of getting frustrated with the inability to do medicine. I was trying to encourage them to make changes but it fell on deaf ears, so I spoke to an agent, and told him that I had always wanted to move to Canada, and he said there is this clinic that is available. And it started from there.”

Dr. Weldon said that he is very much interested in expanding the reach of the clinic by taking on walk-in patients, even outside of the patients rostered to his practice. He said he has always been drawn to rural medicine, which was one of the reasons he looked to Lakelands.

He actually saw a walk-in patient earlier in the morning on Monday (September 16) before the signing ceremony.

He was meeting with Margaret Palimaka from Pine Meadow Nursing Home later in the day to talk about taking on the physician duties at the home, which would be convenient for residents at the home who are currently being served by a doctor from Ottawa.

Starting next week, Dr. Weldon will practice out of the Northbrook office at Lakelands, and will also be at the Denbigh clinic one day a week.

Rebecca Weldon has a brother who has lived in Smiths Falls for 20 years, but the first time she visited him in Canada was last November when the Weldons made their scouting trip to Northbrook.

They are looking forward to enjoying the outdoors and their first Canadian winter, and are also in the market for a permanent home in the local area.