During a lunch event in Lac La Biche on Friday where guest speaker MLA Brian Jean was presenting a regional and provincial update, Lac La Biche County's Mayor Paul Reutov dropped the news that five new doctors and two new nurses were confirmed for the community.
More than halfway through the lunch-hour event held at the Lac La Biche Legion and hosted by the Lac La Biche and District Chamber of Commerce, the mayor told a room of mainly business owners some "good news" on the local healthcare front.
"We've attracted some doctors and some nurses.... it has taken a lot of work, more than I expected," he said, explaining that an update letter from Alberta Health Services was received by the municipality just hours before the lunch event, confirming the arrival of at least seven new medical professionals to the community. "I understand there are five doctors that are now confirmed and two nurses... that have been confirmed."
He said the five confirmed doctors are in addition to others who are now being "talked to and recruited."
The news got even better a few minutes later, as former Lac La Biche County Mayor, and current Regional Health Foundation member Omer Moghrabi said there were actually four new nurses confirmed.
Reutov didn't offer a timeline for when the new medical staff would be working in the community, saying only to "stay tuned."
The Lac La Biche POST newsroom did send a message to officials with Alberta Health Services for comment, but did not receive a response over the weekend.
w/ files from Rob McKinley
