SaltWire E-Edition

Helping recruitment, retention efforts

Mid Valley volunteer group receives $73,765 in provincial funding

JASON MALLOY ANNAPOLIS VALLEY REGISTER jason.malloy @saltwire.com @JasonMa47772994

A committee working to recruit and retain physicians from Aylesford to Bridgetown is excited by the possibilities after receiving more than $70,000 in provincial funding.

The Mid Valley Region Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee will use the funding for such initiatives as digital physician recruitment toolkits, family physician appreciation programs, and programs that welcome physicians and their families to the community.

“It’s going to enable us to really double or triple our efforts,” said Don Hyslop, who chairs the committee and is the community navigator.

The committee has received $73,765 in funding from the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund.

Organizations could apply for up to $100,000 from the $2-million fund.

“Having the resources to move forward with what we’re trying to do is important,” said John Smith, a committee member and vice-chair of the Soldiers Memorial Hospital Foundation. “And I am glad they recognized that the group of navigators and community groups are playing an important part in welcoming physicians and their families. …

“(The funding) alleviates a bit of stress and helps us continue our programming that we’ve done the last two years and expand it in different ways.”

The committee, the only one of its kind comprised solely of volunteers in the province, was created in 2021.

They have shown prospective physicians the region during recruitment visits but also helped physicians and their families settle in the region after relocating here.

Hyslop said the new funding will enable them to give physicians a “much richer experience” during those visits. It will enable them to arrange trips to show them historical and cultural aspects of the region.

“What we really want to do … is to just show the physicians what a great life we have here and how appreciated they are,” Hyslop said.

The Middleton area had 5,128 people on Nova Scotia’s need a family practice registry in February. It represented an increase of 60 people from January.

It also represented 23 per cent of the area’s population. But it is down from the 6,186 people on the registry in November 2021.

“People realize that we have a significant need and

many of the people realize that in order to try to … get it reduced a bit we all have to do our part,” Hyslop said.

In the early days of the committee, members were digging into their own pocket to help fund initiatives.

They have since conducted a GoFundMe campaign, secured a grant and received support from the foundation and the region’s business community.

“The more successful we were in acquiring funding like that, of course, the more events that we could do,” Hyslop said.

The committee has also done special events around Doctors Week or holidays to remind the region’s physicians how much they are appreciated.

Hyslop knows the work the committee does is appreciative from talking to region’s physicians.

“(One) said how lonely it would have been if it hadn’t been for our committee because she knew no one,” he recalled.

Soldiers Memorial Hospital Foundation chair Kelly Hutton said recruiting and retaining are each key.

“Getting people to stay is critically important,” he said in a news release.

“We want them to feel really welcome and meld right into the community, and that’s what has been happening,”

Kings West MLA Chris Palmer said in a news release that building strong ties between health-care providers and families is key to attracting and retaining doctors to the region.

“The dedicated volunteers, who are the heart of these organizations, know better than anyone what makes the Annapolis Valley such a great place to live and work, and I thank them for their leadership.”

The Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce also received $77,105 from the fund. Breanna Sangster, physician community navigator for the group, said the physicians want to know more about the community.

“They can practise absolutely anywhere, but it’s the community where they’ll live and raise their family, so we want to help them spend more time getting to know what we have available,” she said in a news release.

“We’re really excited to be able to broaden our services.”

THE ANNAPOLIS VALLEY REGISTER

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2023-03-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281573769926176

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