Funding for initiatives aimed at attracting health-care workers
The southwest region is getting some funding for initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining health-care workers.
The Yarmouth Region Medical Professional Recruitment Partnership is receiving $79,500 through the province's Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment (OHPR) Community Fund.
The funding will support cultural exchange and appreciation events, new promotional tools, and bike sharing, which are a few of the community-led projects planned to welcome and attract new health-care workers.
“Yarmouth is welcoming people from all over the world coming here to work and raise their families. Projects like this enable us to ensure that they feel a sense of belonging and connection to our community that they've chosen to call home,” said Connor Adams, chair of the Yarmouth Area Chamber of Commerce.
Colton LeBlanc, the Minister of Service Nova Scotia and MLA for Argyle, added, “Yarmouth is focused on attracting new health-care workers and making them and their families feel comfortably settled and welcomed in southwest Nova Scotia. This funding ensures that our region can use their creative ways to make new healthcare recruits feel included in community life.”
The funding announcement comes a few weeks after an update that tenders for construction of a new emergency department will be going out this spring. It is hoped the new, modern and more efficient emergency department will attract health-care workers. The new emergency department is targeted for completion in the fall of 2027.
The OHPR Community Fund was established in
2022. It supports community healthcare recruitment and retention initiatives organized by local non-profit organizations, charitable community groups, cultural organizations, member-based organizations and boards, municipalities and chambers of commerce.
Other funding is for the Digby area where a community survey, holiday socials and transportation assistance are a few of the outreach projects designed to attract and retain health-care workers.
The Digby and Area Health Service Charitable Foundation will receive $16,600 from the OHPR Community
Fund to help newcomers transition to the area and show appreciation for existing healthcare teams.
“Everything that we can do to help make Digby an attractive and comfortable choice for healthcare workers and their families helps us all,” said Jill Balser, Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration and MLA for DigbyAnnapolis.
Dan (Butch) Reitzel, chair of the Digby and Area Health Service Charitable Foundation, says through a lot of hard work, community members have “taken on the exciting role of attracting, welcoming, engaging with and supporting our healthcare professionals and their families.”
“With the assistance of the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment, our community navigator strives to make the Digby area an attractive place to pursue a career in health care and a home that offers social interaction and seeks feedback from our established and new professionals on how to make Digby an even better place to live,” Reitzel said.
In total, 30 organizations across the province will receive support through the OHPR Community Fund this year. There have been various announcements made in the past couple of weeks about project funding with more details to be announced in the coming weeks.
In 2022-2023, the OHPR Community Fund supported 28 community-led recruitment and retention initiatives – investing more than $1.5 million into a range of projects, including healthcare worker recognition events, online support tools, marketing videos and even a community garden.