Our Health is Everything! 

My mother Sandra lost a long and terrible battle with congestive heart failure and diabetes.  She used to say, “when you don’t have your health you have nothing!”  Covid reminded us of that fact when absolutely everyone’s health was at risk.  Covid also highlighted the issues with our health care systems, especially with access and workforce shortages.

The provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the management, organization and delivery of health care services for their residents. The federal government is responsible for: setting and administering national standards for the health care system through the Canada Health Act.  Municipalities typically do not work in the areas of health care, however, we are the closest level of government to the people, and we know firsthand how important access to healthcare is to healthy thriving communities. 

Health care is a very important puzzle piece if we want to grow thriving communities.

This is why the Town of Port Hawkesbury has partnered with the County of the Municipality of Richmond, along with other health care partners, to create, “Cape Breton South Recruiting For Health.”  Over the past four years, we have worked together to take a regional approach, building on the strengths of our local communities and providing a more collaborative environment to retain and attract physicians and other health care professionals. 

Through this work - Cape Breton South Recruiting for Health aims to improve health outcomes for residents in our communities by improving access to health care.  We also develop programming to show our support and appreciation for professionals our regional health care team, as well as programming that encourages students to pursue health care careers.

You may ask yourself why both the Town and Richmond County are investing in Cape Breton South Recruiting for Health to accelerate and add value to recruitment work already being done by the Province? 

We do it because we know health is important to thriving communities.  We do it because we believe promoting our communities is a team sport, wit h the help of community volunteers, local businesses, chamber of commerce, and other partners. Focusing on a collaborative model means we can take a hands-on grass-roots approach.  We know our communities best, so it is important to have a seat on the bus, so we can work with other orders of government to help steer our healthcare futures in a positive direction.

In the past four years, Cape Breton South Recruiting for Health has worked with partners to secure 4 new full-time physicians, 2 new regular locum physicians, more than 30 new full-time nurses, more than 20 new internationally educated healthcare professionals, 3 new full-time nursing practitioner positions and a diverse array of tools to promote our region, including videos, website, social media, and other electronic/paper promotional materials.  We’ve had opportunities to connect with prospective and current health care students (some from our communities) and make hundreds of connections that we hope will lead to continued interest in practicing here.    

I am always excited to help with promoting our community.  Our most recent physician retreat occurred the weekend August 23-25th 2024.  In addition to visiting regional healthcare sites, it began with a fun Friday night gathering in St.Peters; the following day, a luncheon and hike led by Larry and Sherrille MacKeigan through our beautiful trail system in Port Hawkesbury; and sunday the visiting physicians went on a sailing adventure in Richmond County. 

These retreats are wonderful chances to promote our region for both quality of life, quality of practice opportunities, and as a safe and wonderful place to work and raise families.  We talked about school, daycare, career opportunities for their partners, sports and recreation, culture and community, and much more.  It was a wonderful weekend, connecting in such a personal way with potential future physicians in our region.     

So, when it comes to Municipal work, we are coloring outside the lines a little.  I hope our communities support our investment and the outcomes to date.  I want to thank our CBSRH director Gina MacDonald, our CBSRH chairperson Juanita Mombourquette, as well as the executive board and our community partners whom I serve with.