Doctor Sabra Gibbens of Verona Medical Centre

Jeff Green | Mar 22, 2017

Dr. Sabra Gibbens took over Dr. Laurel Dempsey’s practice at the Verona Medical Centre on July 1st of last year, a daunting leap for her. At the time, she had been practicing family medicine for three years, and was suddenly faced with the reality of managing a roster of patients, and running a business. She was also facing a shortage. The other doctor at the centre, Dr. Oglaza had taken a fellowship to study Public Health for two years, leaving Dr. Gibbens with responsibilities for his patients as well.

The result has been a steep learning curve in how to manage a business, a lot of scrambling to make sure that patients who need care the most get the care they need, a lot of work making sure referrals are made and records are kept, and the joy of learning all about the patients in a country clinic. All the while overseeing a major upgrade in digital record-keeping.

“When I first talked with Doctor Dempsey about taking over her practise it was as part of a two doctor clinic. Then Dr. Oglaza had this great opportunity that he was drawn to, and until now we have not been able to find a full time doctor to replace him. I have been lucky enough that since September Trish Warren, the nurse practitioner at the Sydenham clinic has been working here two days a week. Doctor Kalyniuk has been coming in on Monday and Friday afternoons to help cover the load, but she has her own roster of patients in Kingston and those are the only hours she has available,” she said.

Dr. Gibbens works most evenings and weekends, catching up on endless amounts of paper work, which was not what she had been planning, but other aspects of the clinic have gone very well.

“I have been lucky to have support from the staff here over the last 8 months. They have been with me from day one when we painted the waiting room on Canada Day. I also can’t say enough about the community. There is a committee in Verona that has been devoted to health care for years, and as soon as I arrived they began supporting my work here. Among other things, the community purchased an accessible treatment bed for one of the exam rooms, not a cheap item but one that is really necessary.

“It has also been wonderful, but a lot of work, getting to know the patients. Since they were new to me, I have had to spend more time with each patient to learn their history, to understand their needs,” she said.

One of the issues that she has faced, given the situation at the clinic, is having to turn down requests to join the clinic’s roster of patients,

“We have people calling every single day looking for a doctor, and we are saying no because we cannot meet the demands of the patients who are already here. How would they feel if I was taking on new patients? There are those exceptional cases where I have said I will take them on, for cancer patients or those who have recently suffered strokes or heart attacks and have no family doctor,” she said.

While the situation at the Verona clinic is difficult, it is only one of several in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties that is short of doctors.

The Rural Kingston Family Health Organisation (FHO) is an administrative body made up of the physician led clinics in Sydenham and Verona and the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team in Frontenac County, and the physician led clnics in Newburgh and Tamworth as well as the Lakelands – Northbrook (L&A) Family Health Team in Lennox and Addington.

“Within our FHO there are a number of doctor shortages, as there are elsewhere in Ontario” said Dr. Gibbens. The situation I am facing here is not unique in the region by any means. We need more rural doctors.”*
Taking on the clinic has certainly been a major challenge, but Gibbens is no stranger to challenges.

Her preparation for being a country doctor in Eastern Ontario began in an unorthodox way, by studying philosophy in Minnesota. It was there that she met her husband, and they eventually moved to New York City to do graduate studies. Her husband did his PHD at the University of Toronto and they moved to Kingston when he got a full time position at Queen’s. At that point, as they were starting a family, the idea of pursuing her 'dream job' in medicine, began to take form.

“Ever since I was a teenager I had been thinking about family medicine, and with all the publicity about the lack of family practioners that was in the media at that time, in 2004 or so, and the way our lives were going, the opportunity was there to finally pursue it.”

She did some online science courses through Athabasca University while home with young children and eventually finished her pre-med requirements at Queen's. In 2009 she started Med school at Queen’s and started practicing medicine in 2013. Her family moved to a farm property in Godfrey in 2014.

While the sheer volume of work required to run the Verona Medical Centre has certainly stretched Dr. Gibbens, it has not weakened her resolve to make a difference for her patients and the local community.