Healthcare professionals from Timmins and Kapuskasing met with the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for the Province to share health care recruiting success stories and concerns.
Dr. Karina Velji, who is also the Chief of Nursing and Professional Practice heard about innovative solutions that hospitals and health care providers have used to recruit doctors and nurses to the north. She says the commonality from the presentations is that the shortage of health human resources is acute up north.
“How we prepare new practitioners so they fall in love with the north and do we incent them with very competitive advantage solutions so they will come work in this region,” she said.
She adds that she’s impressed with the commitment level the practitioners have for their communities.
“I’m here to learn that….it’s where are the innovation opportunities for health human resources because as you know these are issues all over the world and everywhere in Ontario,” she said. “But I really strongly believe the innovative models are here in the northern communities.”
There are about 20 provincial health human resource programs available, but Velji says they must be changed to meet the needs of the north. She’s hopeful of coming away with new ideas to not only improve those programs but create new ones.
