The Nova Scotia government is giving more than $28,000 in funding to the health and wellness organization Tajikeimik to help recruit Indigenous health-care workers.
Tajikeimik is a new health and wellness authority created to lead transformation for Mi'kmaq communities in Nova Scotia.
“Our health-care system needs to reflect all the Nova Scotians it serves. We need and want more Mi’kmaq and Indigenous people to consider careers in health care,” said L’nu Affairs Minister Karla MacFarlane, on behalf of Michelle Thompson, the minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment, in a news release Friday.
In collaboration with the L’nu Nursing Initiative at Halifax's Dalhousie University, the province says Tajikeimik will create a magazine and website focusing on Mi’kmaq nurses and career opportunities.
The new resources will:
- promote nursing programs
- provide information to help navigate application processes
- showcase Mi'kmaq role models in the health-care industry
“I have been working on trying to create a magazine showcasing Mi’kmaq nurses for a while," said Dawn Googoo, L’nu nursing initiative lead under the Nova Scotia Chair in Indigenous Health Nursing at Dalhousie University.
"My hope for the showcase is for all current nurses to unite and be proud of their achievements. I know this will give our community members a sense of pride. Most of all, I hope to inspire others, including youth, to become a nurse and to see the current nurses as mentors for their future.”
The funding comes from the government's new Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment Community Fund, which the province says is worth $2 million.
The fund is among the recruitment and retention initiatives outlined in "Action for Health," the province’s plan to improve health care.
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