Richmond County-Port Hawkesbury area hiring health-care navigator

A new group in the Richmond County-Port Hawkesbury area is looking to hire someone to work with the Nova Scotia Health Authority to help boost medical staffing.

Cape Breton South Recruiting for Health is advertising for a navigator to help bring new professionals to the area and keep the current ones.

Juanita Mombourquette, co-chair of the group, said she recently spoke with navigators in other parts of the province and discovered the job description is somewhat open to interpretation.

"I was joking with them that the 'other duties as assigned' is actually their real job description, because it could be anything," Mombourquette said.

"It's going to be a challenging and interesting position helping figure out what we need to do to recruit and retain and improve our health care."

The full job description is available on the Cape Breton Partnership's website and the ideal candidate will have to come up with promotional ideas and work with provincial recruiters, she said.

Passion, creativity needed

"It's going to be someone who's passionate about the area, about wanting to show people why living in Cape Breton South is so great."

Whoever fills the position will likely have to learn as they go and create a position that meets multiple objectives, depending on the needs of existing health-care providers and any new ones targeted for hiring.

"I don't know if there's an education path that we would look for, but it doesn't necessarily have to be from the health-care field," Mombourquette said.

"I was talking to some of the navigators ... and they came from tourism. It's kind of a unique position and we're going to play it by ear, I guess, and figure it out."

Cape Breton South Recruiting for Health formed in January with members from Richmond County, the Town of Port Hawkesbury, the Strait Richmond Hospital, Dr. Kingston Memorial Community Health Centre, St. Anne Community and Nursing Care Centre, Strait Area Chamber of Commerce, Cape Breton Partnership and others.

The group has gone through a branding exercise, done a needs survey of local health-care professionals and has already arranged visits with a number of physicians from outside the area.

"We've gotten funding for two summer positions and we've gotten other funding from the two local councils, so at the moment it's a summer position, but our intention is to continue to go after other funding so that this becomes a permanent position," Mombourquette said.