Herding cats
John Wootton, MD, CM, CCFP, FCFP
Shawville, Que.
Can J Rural Med 1997; 2 (1):7
© 1997 Society of Rural Physicians of Canada
See also
I've never been a joiner, but I've never felt happy about the fact either. I don't know to what extent rural physicians share this trait, but judging by the "enthusiasm" with which they turn up at medical staff meetings, I would hazard that it may be a defining characteristic. Some have even likened organizing rural doctors to "herding cats." Yet I joined the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC), and here's why you should too.
The SRPC spontaneously combusted out of the real-life struggle of a few rural physicians to make a point. That the point had to do with rural emergency departments doesn't much matter now, although that battle is by no means won. What does matter is that they found that once out in the open they couldn't go back: there was a landscape full of scattered individuals with similar problems -- people who had not yet and perhaps would never combust but who raised a thumbs-up from the sidelines.
If you clear a piece of ground and turn it into a park, people will gather. If you don't, it reverts to a vacant lot, an abandoned idea. Initially, the SRPC didn't do much beyond giving itself a name, but this was enough of an identity that it became a rallying point for exchange of information and for action. Other players began to include the SRPC in their deliberations. The Canadian Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and provincial governments asked for advice, and universities came calling. The SRPC played its role so well that many people assumed that all rural physicians were members! Unfortunately nothing could be farther from the truth. At a low ebb, not so long ago, paid members numbered fewer than 50.
So what gives? Can it be, as was debated at the society's last two general assemblies, that $200 is too much to ask of rural docs? Is it believable that reducing this to $50 would open the floodgates? Is it simply that, lacking money for publicity, the SRPC is not well enough known? Is it that the problems of rural medicine are (contrary to what the SRPC holds to be true) being adequately addressed already? Is the SRPC simply a figment of a few fertile rural imaginations who believe that herding cats is sometimes possible?
Against the odds, the SRPC now has, by virtue of this peer-reviewed journal, a recurrent presence in the in-boxes of all rural physicians. To them it is saying, "Speak up! Vote with your cheque book! The SRPC is the only national voice dedicated to rural physicians, and you must choose it, or lose it." Provincial battles will continue, but the power of a united vision can only be realized by a deliberate choice.
The SRPC will continue to invent itself, but in the end it cannot be a voice in the wilderness. Will it become an abandoned idea or will the people visit this park, plant some trees and tend to the hedges? Its future is clearly in your hands.
