Nunavik health staffing fragile, but stable

MONTREAL — Nunavut’s close neighbours in Nunavik are still managing to find and keep most of the medical staff that they need, although its been getting harder

That’s in spite of this summer’s 23-day strike by nurses in Quebec and continuing labour unrest in the province’s health sector.

Nunavik’s relative success in finding and keeping health care staff is due to a large dose of hard work, some attractive new financial incentives, and a little tender loving care.

“We put a lot of emphasis on keeping our personnel,” said Serge Auclair from Puvirnituq’s Inuulitsvik Health Centre. “We can’t offer them more benefits, but we can take care of them.”

The Hudson Bay coast’s contingent of 39 nurses are all permanent employees — and there’s also a bank of candidates and others who act as replacements. Inuulitsivik compiled this list by calling every nurse who ever worked in the region.

While Inuulitsivik has not fared so well in finding permanent doctors for the seven communities it serves, there are still a total of eight doctors serving the region’s 5300 residents.

The seven communities along Nunavik’s Ungava Bay coast that are served by the Tulattavik Health Centre in Kuujjuaq also have fully-staffed community clinics and nursing stations.

The Ungava coast’s population of 4200 is served by 29 nurses.

Recruitment easier now

Recruitment has been generally easier, since Quebec finally agreed to let nurses apply for five-year of leaves of absence from jobs in the South to take up positions in Nunavik.

They also receive cash bonuses ranging from $14,000 to $17,000. Nurses working at nursing stations are eligible for an additional $7,000.

“But there was this one week this summer that I had to make 100 calls just to fill one position,” said Tulattivik’s director of nursing, Lyne Roy.

Four out of the seven doctors who had lived in Kuujjuaq for several years left this year because of maternity leaves or dissatisfaction with the local school system.

Doctors hard to find

According to Dr. Natalie Boulanger, the director of professional services in Kuujjuaq, it’s increasingly hard to find doctors who want to live in Nunavik.

Despite a wide range of perks, the high cost of living and travel doesn’t make it any more advantageous to work in the region.

“The work load is lighter, but, in the end, we’re not better off,” said Boulanger.

Nunavik’s regional board of health and social services also assists the two health centres in finding medical staff for the two coasts.

Dr. Normand Tremblay who handles recruitment for the board said that the staffing situation in Nunavik is always “fragile”.

“It’s not automatic that you’d have lots of people on a waiting list,” Tremblay said.

With all doctors and nurses receiving subsidized housing, paid trips out and ample time for professional development or vacation, the main discouragement against working in Nunavik remains the high cost of airfares from Montreal.

“It makes the North seem a special, exotic place, very far away,” said Tremblay.

More training needed

The hardest professionals to recruit from the South are trained medical technicians, pharmacists and psychologists. Social workers and other support workers in the the health sector are also in demand.

“These are the jobs where there are the most Inuit, but we don’t provide them with the training they need to do their job,” said Robert Deschambault, an official with Quebec’s health workers union.

More than 75 per cent of the 1700 unionized Inuit, Cree and non-native employees belong to unions affiliated with Quebec’s Health and Social Services Union, the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN).

Since Quebec’s Treasury Board announced more benefits for nurses in Nunavik last spring, their union has been asking for the same package.

Deschambeault said that there are few incentives for Inuit employees to continue working for the board.

He said that many of the local workers trained for Salluit’s recently-opened youth rehabilitation centre have already quit.