Janet Mort confirmed to Global News Tuesday that a doctor has come forward and agreed to take her husband on as a patient.
She was forced to take out an ad in the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper in an effort to try and find a doctor for her husband.
“We need a doctor’s help to renew my 82-year-old husband’s prescriptions. We will agree to any reasonable fee,” the ad reads.
“Our wonderful family doctor retired at Christmas. No walk-in clinics seem to be available. Today even Telus Health MyCare had no Dr. virtual appointments available for months,” it continues.
Due to privacy reasons, Mort could not provide any more details.
Mort is an Order of British Columbia recipient who has a PhD in language and literacy and who has been lauded for work helping children overcome reading problems.
She told Global News she tried everything she could think of to find a doctor for her husband of 51 years, before taking out the newspaper ad.
Nearly one million British Columbians are currently without a family physician, according to BC Family Doctors.
Despite Mort being unable to find an appointment with Telus Health, the company says there are appointments available.
“We are working hard to ensure that there are sufficient physician appointments available,” the company wrote in a statement to Global News. “To meet this demand, we are releasing new appointments daily. We recommend that people check the app often for these newly released appointment times.”
— with files from Simon Little