Foreign health-care professionals are filling staff shortages in N.B. This is the story of one
More than 1,300 internationally educated nurses have been recruited since 2019
At 3:30 one morning, Reygie De Guzman's flight lands at the international airport in Moncton, ending an almost 24-hour journey to start her new life in Canada.
She's one of hundreds of internationally trained nurses moving to the province to help fill a health-care staffing shortage.
The mother of four said she previously worked as a registered nurse in the Philippines, but will work as a personal support worker in a nursing home until she can get accredited in New Brunswick.
Julie Jollimore, director of care at the Kenneth E. Spencer Nursing Home in Moncton, met De Guzman during a recruiting trip to the Philippines.
Jollimore said without workers like De Guzman, their staffing situation could be dire.
"Some nursing homes within the province in New Brunswick have had to close some beds because of staffing shortages," Jollimore said. "If we didn't have our international employees to come, then we would end up having to close beds here."
Jollimore estimates that their facility employs 75 internationally educated workers across various departments.
De Guzman is the ninth to arrive following their hiring mission in February 2023, which resulted in job offers to 28 workers.
In an email to CBC News, the Department of Social Development called international recruitment of skilled health-care professionals a "critical pathway" for long-term care facilities to address staffing shortages.
However, they were unable to provide numbers on how many nurses have been recruited for long-term care facilities in the province because they're independently owned and operated.
A spokesperson for the province's Department of Health calls staffing shortages "the most important challenge facing New Brunswick's health-care system."
According to their numbers, 719 registered nurse positions and 303 licensed practical nurse positions are vacant as of July.
To fill those gaps, the province said international recruitment is a key part of their strategy.
Since 2019, more than 1,300 internationally educated nurses have been recruited to work in New Brunswick as registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or health-care aides.
It started with a Facebook post
De Guzman said working in the Philippines was difficult. The commute to her job in Quezon City would take three to four hours a day.
"My husband was suggesting that I should rent, you know, a room so I can just stay there and not get too tired. But then I chose to come home so I can see my children."
After almost 10 years of bouncing from motorbike, to bus, to train and then taxi just to make it to work, De Guzman eventually moved hospitals, taking a pay cut to work closer to home.
"I couldn't cope anymore," she said. "Sometimes the kids are asleep when I leave and they're already asleep for the night when I get home."
De Guzman also supported the family for five years while her husband, Jay, was in medical school.
"It wasn't easy at all. If I go back, our life was really, really challenging."
The couple hopes Canada can provide better opportunities for them and their children. Jay, who's currently working as a physician in the Philippines, also hopes to find work in Canada.
De Guzman said the process started for her when she saw a Facebook post from the government of New Brunswick advertising a recruitment mission in Manila and Cebu.
By that point, De Guzman said she had already researched different pathways to get into Canada, but she was intimidated by the process, so she decided to focus on her career and family in the Philippines.
However, she decided later to submit her resume anyway, and was contacted by email after two weeks to set up an interview, where she met Jollimore.
De Guzman arrived in Canada alone, leaving her family in the Philippines until she gets established. It could be six months to a year until she sees her children next.
"My husband and I tried to explain to them that I'll be the one going first to prepare things for them so things will be easier," she said. "They even ask me about my schedule, like, 'What's the time difference?' Because they want to talk to me and call me when I'm available."
Now De Guzman is sharing an apartment with two other health-care workers who have also made the journey to Canada as she settles into her new life in Moncton.
"I'm hoping that things will work out in work, and we'll be able to become stable, get a house of our own," she said.
"I'm excited to start working so I won't be thinking too much about home."
Retention is 'key'
But navigating a new system can be tricky. Helping her through the process is Carol Chapman, a partner with ThriveNB. Chapman's job is to help settle new skilled workers like De Guzman.
Chapman was her first contact in Canada, waiting patiently by the airport doors at 3:30 a.m. for her.
"I think one thing that really helped me is knowing that there's someone waiting for me in Canada who's going to help me process things. I think that's a big thing," De Guzman said.
Chapman's group is hired to help retain workers in the province by building a community around them, and making the logistics of the move easier. She works with newcomers well before their move to Canada and after they land.
She helps them find a place to live and to navigate government bureaucracy, and connects them with resources in the community.
"I think it's incredibly important that they feel, both tangibly and intangibly, welcomed and supported in that context, coming from halfway around the world," Chapman said. "It's very brave and most of us have never done it."
She said retention in smaller areas of the country and the Maritimes is below the national average, which is why the effort to integrate new skilled workers in the community is critical.
"I think that in smaller places, Maritime provinces is one, we need to catch up to make sure that people know that they are valued and we want them to stay," Chapman said. "I think that's where we do a better job today, recruiting and retaining."
Chapman said a lot is invested in these workers and it's important to make the effort to retain them so they and the community don't have to start all over again.
"We are lucky to have them here, both as employers but also as a community and a province."
Health-care partnerships
In an email to CBC News, the Department of Health said it has "expanded navigation service for internationally educated nurses" and developed "expedited pathways to credential recognition" for nurses in 14 countries.
Those countries are the Philippines, India, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Hong Kong.
A health-care partnership with Indonesia was also announced in July. While more details are still to be released, it would carve pathways for health-care professionals from that country to obtain Canadian accreditation.
But Frédéric Finn, vice-president of employee experience at Vitalité Health Network, said he wants to see more focus on francophone recruitment.
"While we appreciate this recent announcement of a partnership with Indonesia, this country is not a market for French-speaking health-care workers," Finn said.
"We hope that more efforts will be made to foster such partnerships with countries harbouring higher percentages of francophones."
In addition to international recruitment, the province said it's also taking steps to train more personnel in the province.
"Over the past five years, the number of students enrolled in nursing in New Brunswick has significantly increased, going from 888 in 2018 to 1,689 this year."
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