More Funding to Support Healthcare Recruitment, Retention on Eastern Shore

Community groups on the Eastern Shore will work together, each with a different focus, to recruit and retain healthcare workers using funding from the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment.

The Musquodoboit Valley Health Foundation will focus on recruiting local talent by hosting career days and job fairs in local schools, providing students with first-hand experience of working in healthcare. The foundation will also develop promotional materials and a training strategy to help local healthcare providers advance their skills and designations.

The Musquodoboit Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs and the Old School Community Gathering Place will work on retention of healthcare professionals through activities that support health providers who currently commute to create bonds with and settle in the community.

The Sheet Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs will focus on the recruitment of new healthcare professionals to Eastern Shore communities. Activities will include exhibiting at physician events and developing a welcome guide and a promotional campaign.

“The collaborative approach of these three Eastern Shore groups is what Nova Scotia is all about,” said Kent Smith, MLA for Eastern Shore, on behalf of Michelle Thompson, Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment. “By working together and dividing up the work, the Eastern Shore’s united approach to healthcare recruitment and retention will show positive impacts in these communities.”

The funding is from the government’s new Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund. A total of 28 groups across Nova Scotia applied by the December 19 deadline, and more successful applicants will be notified in the coming weeks.

The fund, worth $2 million in total, is among the recruitment and retention initiatives outlined in Action for Health, the Province’s plan to improve healthcare.

Quotes:

“The community is pleased to have received funding to focus on recruitment from within our community and current staff. We feel that building a healthcare team with local roots will improve our ability to fill vacancies and to retain workers. Local employees who live in the community and whose families are in the community are strongly connected and engaged in their work because they are invested in the health of their community since it is their home. This ‘grow from within’ strategy will be part of an overall recruitment strategy that allows us to seek out and grow the skills we need in our local healthcare facilities and spend less time hiring and training new staff.”

– Tom Parker, Chair, Musquodoboit Valley Health Foundation

“The Old School Community Gathering Place and the Musquodoboit Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs appreciate this opportunity to tackle one of our community’s urgent needs – to find ways for our community to work together to keep our wonderful doctors and nurses on the Eastern Shore.”

– Karen Bradley, Co-Chair, Old School Community Gathering Place

“I know I speak for the community of the Eastern Shore when I say how delighted we are to be a successful recipient of this funding that will enable us to continue and expand the work we have underway with medical personnel recruitment and retention. It is imperative we retain the physicians and other medical staff we are fortunate to have providing care, and important for us to plan ahead with a succession plan to attract healthcare professionals to our community.”

– Janice Christie, President, Sheet Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs

Quick Facts:

• Musquodoboit Valley Health Foundation will receive $18,400; the Musquodoboit Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs and the Old School Community Gathering Place will receive $56,000; and the Sheet Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Affairs will receive $81,825
• organizations across the province could apply for up to $100,000 from the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund
• to be eligible, community organizations had to be a registered society, association, non-profit or charity; municipalities and chambers of commerce were also eligible
• two funding streams were available: community identified projects and community readiness supports; groups could request funding from one or both

Additional Resources:

Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund: https://beta.novascotia.ca/apply-funding-recruit-and-retain-healthcare-professionals-ohpr-community-fund

Action for Health: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth/

Mandate letter of the Minister of Health and Wellness and Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment: https://novascotia.ca/exec_council/letters-2021/ministerial-mandate-letter-2021-DHW.pdf