Update (April 16, 2025)

The patient roster has now been fully allocated to accepting physicians. Assignments were made based on geographical location—specifically Corunna, Forest, and Sarnia—with efforts to keep families together where possible. Within each of these locations, patients were by and large randomly distributed among the available physicians in the spirit of fairness.

This process required a great deal of work and dedication from the administrative team, whose efforts were instrumental in coordinating this transition. It also reflects a remarkable community effort to support patients during a time of significant family physician shortages across Ontario. The commitment shown by these physicians has been truly commendable.

Over the coming months, patients will be contacted by their assigned physicians. We appreciate your patience as this process moves forward.

Warm regards,

Dr. David Bastien and Staff

Dear Patients,

I am writing to share a deeply personal and difficult decision. After much thought and reflection, I have decided to step away from family medicine. This has not been an easy path to take, but it has become necessary due to both personal and professional factors.

When I came to Sarnia, I had just completed four intense years working in emergency medicine at a high-volume, high-acuity hospital and throughout underserviced community emergency rooms across Ontario, including during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that time, I not only witnessed too many patients arriving with heart attacks, strokes, and end-stage cancers—but I also had to manage and treat them firsthand as they presented in crisis to the emergency room. Many of these patients were behind on basic cardiovascular screening or cancer surveillance. Those experiences profoundly shaped my commitment to family medicine and preventative health.

When I transitioned into the practice, I began caring for a large, older, and medically complex patient population. Many patients were overdue for routine screenings and chronic disease management, often due to a combination of system-level barriers and access issues namely the COVID pandemic. Over the last two and a half years, I dedicated myself fully to reversing this. I worked 12+ hour days, often seven days a week, including holidays. Every patient visit was comprehensive, often addressing five to ten separate concerns—everything from cancer screening to cardiovascular risk to chronic pain and more.

What many don’t see is the work that happened outside regular clinic hours. Every day began in the early morning—often as early as 3:00 a.m.—reviewing lab results, imaging reports, consult notes, and coordinating follow-up care. Weekends were rarely, if ever, my own. It was not unusual to be calling patients on Saturdays, Sundays, and on holidays to inform them of urgent findings and, in some cases, instructing them to go directly to the emergency room for acute treatment based on new lab or imaging results. I carried the weight of ensuring no result was missed, no patient left without next steps, and no condition left unmanaged. The behind-the-scenes work was constant and demanding—but it was also work I took pride in, knowing it contributed to safer, more complete care for each of you.

I have worked hard to bring many patients up to date. I've diagnosed over 100 new cancers—many early and treatable. I’ve made hundreds upon hundreds of referrals—too many to count—for cardiovascular assessments, chronic pain management, and other specialty care. Every patient chart has been updated with a focus on thoroughness and continuity. I also implemented a new electronic medical record system that tracks preventative health milestones and specialist referrals with precision. In the past year, I expanded my skills in dermatology and surgical excision, catching and treating multiple skin cancers early, including melanomas.

However, the effort required to maintain this level of care has become increasingly unsustainable—especially in the current healthcare climate.

Another significant challenge has been the shortage of qualified healthcare professionals. Recruiting and retaining nurse practitioners, allied health staff, and support personnel has been incredibly difficult. The system is strained. Burnout is widespread, and smaller communities like ours often face an acute lack of resources and support. Despite repeated efforts, I’ve not been able to secure consistent staffing to support the level of care our patients deserve. This has added a tremendous burden to an already demanding workload and made it nearly impossible to keep the practice running at the high standard I’ve set for myself and my patients.

As a father of three young children, I’ve reached a point where I must also consider my own health and wellbeing. I need to reclaim time for my family and transition to a practice model that is more sustainable long term. I will be moving into dermatology work full-time.

Because the practice is now up to date on preventative care and chronic disease management, I am in the process of ensuring a smooth and coordinated transition in collaboration with our Family Health Organization. Patients will be reassigned to other family physicians within the organization, and I will provide detailed handover notes, including a current care summary (facesheet), for each patient.

Please be assured that I am working to ensure that no patient will be left behind without a family doctor in the next 3 months. Continuity of care remains the highest priority throughout this transition.

Over the next three months, my staff and I will continue to follow up on labs and imaging already ordered. We will also maintain our ongoing prescription renewal drive, which began earlier this year, ensuring patients have their medications renewed for up to one year whenever appropriate. This effort will continue throughout the transition period to minimize disruption and support continuity of care.

If you would like to explore finding a new family physician yourself, you may visit the following link for a list of doctors currently accepting new patients in our region:
https://rapidsfhteam.ca/physicians

If you require a copy of your entire medical chart, we are happy to provide it. There is a one-time administration fee of $50, which includes the cost of the encrypted USB drive. Alternatively, if your new physician simply requires a facesheet summary, they can fax a request directly to our office—this will be provided at no cost.

Additional communication will follow regarding how care will be transitioned and physician assignment.

To support you during this transition, updates and important information—particularly regarding how patient rosters will be distributed to other physicians—will be available on our website at www.drbastienfamilymedicine.ca. I encourage you to check the site regularly for updates and guidance on next steps. The practice will close fully on July 04, 2025.

Please know that this has been one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I am proud of the work I’ve done and honored to have been part of your healthcare journey. Thank you for your trust, your patience, and your understanding during this time of transition.

With heartfelt gratitude,
Dr. David Bastien

Please note that we have hired additional contract staff to help manage the exceptionally high volume of phone calls to our office. We typically receive hundreds of calls each day, which can be challenging to respond to in a timely manner. We appreciate your patience as we do our best to address each inquiry.

If you require a prescription renewal, please have your pharmacy fax a renewal request directly to our office—this is the most efficient way for us to process it.

At this time, we are not accepting calls for new medical concerns. Follow-up on outstanding lab results and imaging will continue over the next three months as part of our transition process.