Nunavut snags 36 nurses from overseas

SARA MINOGUE

Just weeks before the grand openings for Nunavut’s two new regional health centres in the Kivalliq and the Kitikmeot, the recruitment and retention officer at the Government of Nunavut’s health department says the supply of nurses this fall looks “excellent.”

“All our positions are basically filled,” says Ann-Marie Bowman.

Ten nurses from India and the Philippines were buying parkas in Winnipeg this past week to prepare for their arrival in Nunavut next Monday or Tuesday.

These nurses are the first of 36 confirmed new international hires who will start work in in the third or fourth week of October at Nunavut’s community health centres.

After a four-week training course in Iqaluit, nine nurses will join staff at the new health centre in Rankin Inlet, scheduled to officially open on Sept. 14. Seven will go to the new Kitikmeot health centre, which will open in Cambridge Bay on Oct. 12.

The GN has interviewed 52 international nurses, which means 16 more nurses could soon be on their way. All of the nurses were hired by Trillium Talent Resource Group, which is under contract to provide 100 nurses to the GN, each guaranteed for two years.

The guarantee does not mean nurses will be forced to stay in Nunavut, but that Trillium will replace anyone who leaves early at no extra cost to the GN.

There are still a few job openings. The birthing centre in Rankin Inlet needs midwives and a manager of midwives. Some community nursing stations have openings for a supervisor of community health programs, also known as a nurse-in-charge.

The GN recently raised the rate of pay for nurses-in-charge, to encourage more nurses to take the GN-provided leadership and management training courses required for the position.

Nunavut lost 10 registered nurses last year, Bowman says.

To help the newcomers get settled, the new four-week orientation in Iqaluit should help. This is the first time that nurses outside of the Baffin Regional Hospital will get a formal, clinical orientation to working in Nunavut.

“It will no longer be baptism by fire,” Bowman says.

The department is hoping to hire permanent clinical instructors to do similar orientations in the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions.

The contingency plan in case some nurses do leave unexpectedly is to create a floating pool of 12 or so nurses who can move around the territory to fill vacancies. In previous years, the GN has relied on staffing agencies, an expensive option, to supply last-minute replacements.