There are no family doctors accepting new patients in Chatham-Kent.

It’s starting to strain the system so much that civic leaders are thinking about spending money to fix the problem.

“It's something that we hear often in Chatham-Kent on an anecdotal level," says councilor Brock McGregor.

But now Chatham-Kent council is acting on the looming family doctor shortage. They are allocating $100,000 in the 2019 budget to fund a physician recruitment and retention program.

Funding that once existed, but eventually went elsewhere.

“It is the kind of thing where you can coast along and be really well staffed for a number of years and then for things like attrition and retirement or whatever, you suddenly have some spots that are vacant," says Laurie Nash, with the Chatham-Kent Family Health Team.

Nash says there are a host of reasons as to why a community can all of a sudden face a doctor shortage.

“It depends on where there's availability and where physicians may be accepting patients."

Nash tells CTV News residents are visiting the emergency room for things that can be been treated by a family doctor or they're traveling to places like Windsor or London for health care.

“We want our patients to get local care here," says Nash.

There may be another cure, or at least a remedy.

Chatham-Kent has partnered with the Schulich School of Medicine, with a residency program where at least four family physicians train in the community.

The trick now is to keep them in Chatham-Kent after graduation.

“Research has proven time and again that were people train they tend to stay so that is one of the things that is a real bonus for us and that certainly is part of our recruitment initiative is working with those people and making sure that they have what they need to stay in the community once they have finished their training," says Nash.

McGregor says it really needs to be a holistic approach that needs to look at how they make the community more attractive and how they engage with people once they move there.