Caring side of Sudbury promoted.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Brief Article

For the first-time visitor to Sudbury, navigating through the city's winding maze of streets can be a bewildering and frustrating experience. But imagine trying it when one is ill, or with some angst-ridden family members in tow. How does one find one's way to the doctor's office, or even hospital sites for scheduled appointments? Where are there reasonably-priced accommodations?

A Sudbury physician, sympathetic to the plight of out-of-towners on referral, wants to ease their suffering and anxiety just a tad by promoting Sudbury as a caring and compassionate community.

Cardiologist Ron Baigre and a handful of local specialists are collaborating with a Sudbury marketing firm, 50 Carleton & Associates, and the city's tourism partners by showcasing the community to visitors on a different purpose.

Under the tag line "We Care" and "Greater Sudbury, Greater Hospitality," the Sudbury Cares initiatives is designed to further develop and enhance Sudbury's stature as a regional health centre.

Baigre, who moved from Toronto to Sudbury in 1994, and set up practice on Larch Street downtown, began cultivating at least half of his growing patient load from out-of-town referrals from across northeastern Ontario.

"I suddenly realized people couldn't find the building, couldn't figure out the one-way streets, didn't know where the parking lot was, and I was also getting referrals coming in to be hospitalized for diagnostic testing to be done."

It became obvious there had to be better communication with patients, and his staff began creating city maps and mailing out rudimentary information packages directly to them.

Now Baigre and the award-winning marketing agency want to create a more formalized version to distribute to doctors across the North who are referring patients to Sudbury for tertiary care programs, such as cancer treatment, cardiology and orthopedic procedures.

Henry Goegan, a senior partner at 50 Carleton, provides figures that estimate the average patient load for a Sudbury physician is between 3,000...