March 2017 | Business View Magazine

184 185 Quesnel, British Columbia needs; we addressed issues concerning salary positions versus setting up a private prac- tice. As a result of that, and as a result of the city providing some incentives, the hospital district giving us money to have a full-time recruiter, and one of our local auto dealers giving us access to a vehicle for doctors, we recruited 15 doctors on the primary care side; we recruited more specialists, including a surgeon; we’ve reconstructed how we deliver emergency care; and we have a brand new primary care clinic that has state-of-the art telemedicine capacity, wound management, and various other things that unburdened our emergency services. “From that, we learned that if you take a problem head-on, get the right partners in the room, you don’t have the story: ‘Quesnel has a mill closing and is losing doctors,’ you have a North American success story. And we’re go- ing to take the same approach we took with primary care to mental health, addiction, and homelessness. Also, we have a very dramati- cally and rapidly aging population–we have one of the highest concentrations of seniors over 65 on a per capita basis, in the north.We would like to attract more 55-plus seniors, and retain more seniors between 65 and 70, so we’re going to map our seniors’ care delivery systemwith our seniors’ community so that we can deliver on a promise that this is a place you can retire to and spend your final years.” Telling the story about Quesnel’s success- es is part of the town’s brand re-invention, and one of the responsibilities of Amy Reid, Quesnel’s Economic Development Officer. “We go out once a year and talk to our busi- ness community” she says. “Last year, the number one thing we heard from businesses is that they wanted to see better marketing of our community. Our ‘Gold Pan City’ brand didn’t resonate to anybody. And although forestry will always be a part of who we are, it shouldn’t define us, either.We want to be described as a community that is sustain- able, accessible, trail-blazing, and fun.” Thus, after much community input, it was decided that the town’s new brand tagline would be: