PORT COLBORNE — The City of Port Colborne has signed Dr. Sarah Jenkins, the consensus top family physician available on the open market, to a five-year agreement just 40 minutes after Niagara’s physician signing period opened at noon Wednesday.

Jenkins, 33, completed her family medicine residency this spring and entered free agency as an unrestricted physician after declining a qualifying offer from a clinic in Hamilton. She was introduced at a press conference at the Roselawn Centre on Wednesday afternoon, where Port Colborne officials presented her with a white lab coat bearing her name and the number 1 across the back.

“This is a franchise-altering day for Port Colborne,” said Trevor Mastroianni, the city’s general manager of primary care. “You don’t get many chances to add a physician of this calibre. When she became available, we knew we had to be aggressive.”

Only one Jenkins

Jenkins sat atop most industry boards heading into the signing period, largely on the strength of her numbers during residency. She averaged 2.6 concerns addressed per appointment, well above the regional average of one, and has never posted a sign in her examination room asking patients to limit their visit to a single issue.

Scouts also praised her fax handling, which one evaluator described as “elite,” and her ability to renew a prescription without requiring the patient to come in.

“She sees the whole patient,” said Rob Kettering, who covers the physician market for the Niagara podcast Rostered. “She’ll ask about your knee, and then she’ll ask about your other knee. You can’t teach that.”

Terms of the deal

The city did not disclose financial details, but a copy of the agreement reviewed by The Niagara Star includes:

  • A five-year term with a city option for a sixth year
  • A full no-move clause preventing reassignment to a walk-in clinic
  • A reserved parking space with no time limit
  • A seasonal boat slip at Sugarloaf Marina
  • Front-row seating for Canal Days
  • A written guarantee that her office will not be located above a vape shop

Mastroianni confirmed the city has also agreed to rename a stretch of West Street in her honour, pending the completion of her first two years.

Rival bids

Port Colborne’s offer beat out bids from at least four other municipalities. Welland is believed to have offered more money over a longer term, while St. Catharines reportedly pitched Jenkins on its proximity to the QEW and the opportunity to join an established practice alongside veteran physicians.

Niagara-on-the-Lake offered a century home in Old Town, though the proposal was contingent on Jenkins not altering the windows, the porch, or the colour of the front door without a heritage permit.

The signing was briefly overshadowed by a tampering complaint after a Welland city councillor was seen buying Jenkins a double-double at a Tim Hortons in August, weeks before the negotiating window opened.

“Councillors buy people coffee all the time,” said a spokesperson for the City of Welland. “It was a medium.”

Fans react

Roughly 300 residents gathered outside the clinic where Jenkins will practise on Wednesday evening, some of whom had been in line since before the signing was announced. Her patient roster of 1,300 filled in eleven minutes. The city has since opened a waitlist for its waitlist.

Doreen Haskett, 74, has been on Health Care Connect since her previous physician, Dr. Pelletier, retired in 2019. She attended wearing a lab coat purchased at Value Village with Jenkins written across the back in permanent marker.

“We’ve had some lean years in this town,” said Haskett, who was not among the 1,300. “You start to wonder if you’ll ever see one in your lifetime. But this feels different. This feels like a real commitment to the future.”

Looking ahead

Mastroianni acknowledged the city had “mortgaged some of its future” to compete this season, including trading its first-round pick in next spring’s residency match to Thorold in exchange for a nurse practitioner and future considerations.

Wainfleet, which did not submit an offer, said in a statement Wednesday that it remains “fully committed to its rebuild” and has hired a scout to attend Grade 10 biology classes across the township.

Asked about expectations, Jenkins said she was trying not to look too far ahead.

“Everybody wants to talk about five years,” she said. “I’m just going to take it one appointment at a time.”

Her first available appointment is in April.

Council also voted unanimously on Wednesday night to retire Jenkins’s lab coat upon her eventual departure and hang it from the rafters of the Vale Health and Wellness Centre. Her contract begins Monday.