Quiet days, chaotic hiring: Nurse describes life on Quebec's 'flying squad' in the regions

It's a quiet evening in the emergency room of the Port-Cartier health and social services centre in Quebec's Côte-Nord region. Two patients are lying on hospital beds. One nurse treats about three patients an hour.

It's exactly the lifestyle Pierre-Luc Grenier is looking for after a grueling 20-year career working in Quebec City's hospitals and with the province's aeromedical evacuation program (EVAQ). 

"For me, being in Port-Cartier right now is truly total bliss. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't be moved," he said.

Grenier is a nurse with Quebec's "flying squad" of health-care professionals that travels across the province's regions, starting with the Côte-Nord and Abitibi-Témiscamingue, to reduce the system's reliance on private agencies and address staffing shortages. 

Since joining the team over the summer, he says he's been enjoying a "honeymoon" period, with a slower pace that benefits his mental health and allows him more time to provide better care to his patients.

"I've always missed the regions. There's the financial benefits, of course, and then, there's also a softer side compared to the big city centres. After 20 years, I'd had enough," he said.

Chaotic hiring process

Six months after Quebec launched its mobile health team, only 38 nurses have joined its ranks as of the end of November.

During Radio-Canada's visit to the Port-Cartier health centre, Grenier was the only public system nurse on duty. His other colleagues were all from recruitment agencies.

"The flying team has not been as attractive as we wanted and there are reasons for that," said Grenier. 

He said from the start, the process to join the squad was confusing. The human resources team at Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, which was responsible for recruiting members, had difficulty providing clear answers to his questions.

"Is our seniority recognized? [I was told] yes. But in the end, that's not the case," said Grenier. 

He says while the pay is good, he had to resign from his position in Quebec City — "a rather absurd measure" — in order to be hired, which meant losing his 20 years of seniority and the associated benefits.

Moreover, this summer, uncertainty loomed over the mobile team's future as negotiations between two unions representing thousands of health-care workers and Quebec's Health Ministry grew more complex. Grenier believes this tug of war negatively affected recruitment.

"People were reluctant to join the public flying squad," he said. 

Tensions between squad and local staff

The Syndicat des infirmières et infirmiers du nord-est québécois (SIISNEQ), a nurses' union on the Côte-Nord, also noted inequities between its members and the mobile health team.

According to its president, Karine Ouellet Moreau, members of the mobile team are offered more "favourable" shifts, unlike local nurses who are assigned evening and night shifts, which are more challenging for work-life balance.

Moreau says the situation is "irritating" for members and insists that the Quebec government provide lasting solutions to "vitalize the Côte-Nord" and maintain the care offered to the population.