Province importing more health-care workers to fill void: Fitch

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SHEDIAC • New Brunswick is recruiting more workers from other countries to fill staffing gaps in the health care system, Health Minister Bruce Fitch said Friday.

“We are in need of internationally educated health-care workers, because there is such a demand here, we’re an aging population and a growing population, and we need more health-care workers on all fronts,” Fitch said during a visit to the Villa Providence, a nursing home in Shediac that operates primarily in French.

A ceremony was held at the home Friday to celebrate the success of recruiting missions to other countries, which has resulted in hundreds of health care workers from other countries coming to New Brunswick to work and start a new life.

Marwa Channouei, who came to New Brunswick from Tunisia two years ago, said she is enjoying her new life in Shediac, working with residents at the nursing home and making new friends. She speaks French and English, and since she’s been living here, Marwa has also picked up on the local “Chiac” dialect, which is a mixture of English and French.

Muriel Berdat, who works as a recruiter for the nursing home, said she’s been on several recruiting missions to other countries and helped more than 100 come to Canada. She said one of the best ways to help recruits adjust to their new life is to have them stay with local families.

Villa Providence, which is operated by the Comfort Life Network, was one of eight nursing homes to participate in a recruiting mission to Belgium in Morocco last September, aimed at finding French-speaking internationally educated nurses to work in New Brunswick’s long-term sector. The health department said the mission was the first one exclusively for French-language nursing homes.

“The mission to Belgium and Morocco resulted in 140 offers being made by participating nursing homes, including 58 by Villa Providence, which has had 26 employees arrive, with four more coming in the near future,” the department said in a news release.

“Since 2019, New Brunswick has selected nearly 1,400 internationally trained nursing professionals for immigration, with half of those selected since October, 2022,” the release said.

Berdat said nursing homes are in need of more qualified staff to care for residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Another new nursing home is now under construction in Shediac and more are planned around the province to keep up with New Brunswick’s aging population.

“Internationally educated nurses must meet requirements of the Nurses Association of New Brunswick to work as registered nurses in the province,” the release said.

“We are delighted to be welcoming internationally educated nurses int our system,” said Romeo LeBlanc, CEO of Comfort Life Network. “They are part of a team that works every day to provide residents with excellent care and support.”

The health department said an expedited licensing process is in place for nurses trained in 14 countries including France, Belgium, Morocco, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. They can work in support positions, such as personal support workers, for regional health authorities or nursing homes before obtaining their nursing licence.

Greg Turner, the MLA for Moncton South who is also minister of post-secondary education, training and labour and the minister responsible for immigration, said recruiting health-care workers is part of the bigger picture of immigration.

“In the province we are targeting about 10,000 immigrants per year, with Greater Moncton including Shediac at around 5,000,” Turner said. “We have to ensure that we not only have jobs for those people when they come here, along with educational opportunities.”