Support for Healthcare Recruitment and Retention in Communities

Communities looking for financial help recruiting and retaining healthcare workers can apply for up to $100,000 to support their efforts.

The Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment (OHPR) Community Fund, launched last year, is open again for applications. In the first year, there were 28 successful applicants, with initiatives such as healthcare worker recognition events, online support tools, marketing videos and even a community garden.

“We had tremendous success with the community fund in its first year and also have learned more about how we can support our community partners to reach their healthcare recruitment and retention goals,” said Michelle Thompson, Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment. “We have seen that we have more success keeping and recruiting healthcare workers when communities lead the way. This is why we established the community fund.”

Groups that qualify for funding include registered non-profit organizations and charity community groups, cultural organizations, member-based organizations and boards, municipalities and chambers of commerce.

Applications must be received by November 24. Fund guidelines and the application form are available at: https://novascotia.ca/ohpr-community-fund .

Priority will be given to geographic, social and cultural communities that have not received money from the fund. Organizations that have received funding can apply again for new projects that demonstrate how they might grow their success.

The OHPR Community Fund supports community healthcare recruitment and retention initiatives, an action item in Action for Health, the government’s strategic plan to improve healthcare in Nova Scotia.

Quotes:

“The OHPR Community Fund shows the Nova Scotia government’s commitment to addressing health workforce issues and promoting an equitable health workforce. Through this fund, the Nova Scotia Internationally Educated Nurses Network was able to start building an ‘All Information in One Place’ resource hub that will provide internationally educated nurses with information to help them successfully integrate into the Nova Scotia healthcare system landscape.”

– Damilola Iduye, President, Nova Scotia Internationally Educated Nurses Network, and senior instructor, school of nursing, Dalhousie University

“The OHPR Community Fund was a great help in creating ideas, allowing us to accomplish several objectives set out in our mandate. This included hosting 15 first- to fourth-year medical students from the Dalhousie Family Medicine Interest Group in April and a multicultural celebration held in October where we partnered with a number of local organizations to bring healthcare professionals and members of our diverse community together.”

– Nancy Whalley, community navigator, Digby Area Healthcare Engagement

Quick Facts:

• two funding streams are available: community identified projects and community readiness supports; groups may request funding from one or both
• the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment will work to connect groups within the same community to encourage collaboration

Additional Resources:

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

Mandate letter for 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