Collaboration needed to keep Campbellton Regional Hospital open, officials say
Restigouche region mayors, citizens, health-care staff take on recruitment of health-care workers
Officials in the Restigouche region of northern New Brunswick hope getting involved in recruitment will help solve a major shortage of health-care workers.
The Vitalité Health Network and the Restigouche Regional Service Commission are creating two advisory committees to bring together local mayors, hospital staff and citizens to find solutions for recruiting and retaining employees.
Brad Mann, chair of the commission, said collaboration is needed to keep the Campbellton Regional Hospital open and offering services.
"We hear lots of stories that people put their name in and never hear back, [so they] had to go somewhere else to take a job. That's why we wanted to get our own committee to make sure these items are addressed," he said.
Local leaders have been pushing for greater involvement in recruitment efforts. The commission met with the Vitalité Health Network on Sept. 1 to present recommendations, which included creating the new committees.
WATCH | Local committee wants to find and keep nurses, doctors
Mann said having local leaders and citizens involved will be a "positive step forward," but will require persistence.
"We're very connected — all of us — to a lot of people that want to come back to the region, so they can certainly contact us … we'll bring their name to the table to our committee," he said.
'We should be recruiting ourselves'
A regional committee, which will include municipal officials, members of the service commission and Maxime Saulnier, director of hospital activities at the Campbellton Regional Hospital, will work on recruitment and other issues.
A second advisory committee, which will also include citizen members, will focus on health and wellness issues in Restigouche communities. It will also include professionals from Public Health and the St. Joseph Community Health Centre in Dalhousie.
The area's only walk-in clinic closed in February in response to a shortage of physicians and was replaced with a service for orphan patients.
Dalhousie Mayor Normand Pelletier, who has advocated for greater local involvement, said the changes are a positive start. He'd like to see the regional service commission also hire its own recruiter to support the efforts of Vitalité.
"We as elected officials and parents and relatives who have loved ones who work in the health field department, we should be recruiting ourselves," he said.
"We have one of the most beautiful places in New Brunswick and this is where they should come back to."
Recruitment challenges
The Vitalité Health Network is grappling with staffing shortages at its hospitals in northern New Brunswick, including the Campbellton Regional Hospital.
Obstetric and pediatric services were "temporarily interrupted" in April 2020. More than two years later, the health network says labour and delivery services won't be reopening anytime soon.
The emergency department has also experienced temporary closures, forcing residents to drive long distances to other hospitals.
Dr. France Desrosiers, Vitalité's president and CEO, said the Restigouche region is the health zone where staffing shortages are the biggest. She said the local involvement will help integrate new hires into the community and promote the area.
"It's a rural region, it's a small region, so there's multiple factors that align that make the challenges greater compared to our other three regions," she said in French.
"It's a pattern we see across Canada that when we're in rural regions, it's harder to recruit. When we're in distant regions, it's harder to recruit."
The average age of health-care workers in the region is older, the population base is smaller, and the hospital aims to offer many services, Desrosiers said.
Campbellton Mayor Ian Comeau said the issue is top of mind for residents in his city. He expects the committee will serve as a direct link to the health network.
"What we hear out there from our citizens, we can relay that information to the new people that have been appointed here at the Campbellton Regional Hospital. We can work with those key people, and I think that's going to be very important," he said.
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