Black Cultural Centre hosts African-Nova Scotian-focused hiring fair

A hiring fair in Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia encourages African Nova Scotia to consider a career in health care.

An African Nova Scotian-centered hiring fair took place at the Black Cultural Centre in Cherry Brook, N.S., Tuesday.

The event was open to anyone of any age, and it had quite the turnout.

Dalhousie University student Toby Khisa, who is studying kinesiology, says the job fair will open doors for him in the medical field.

“I have only been here for 30 minutes already, but I feel like it’s opened my eyes a ton and I feel like something good is going to come out of this,” says Khisa.

Arshjyot Kaur is new to Nova Scotia and says the event helped her build connections with health-care providers within the region.

“I actually am a recent immigrant here and I came here after my graduation from med school like four months back. I am really looking forward to getting clinical experience because the pathway to license for internationally trained physicians is long, so this is my first networking event here and I just love how it went here. I made new connections and I met other doctors who internationally trained and went through the same path as me so I think it really gave me motivation to keep doing what I am doing and make connections to get in the field,” says Kaur.

This is the third year for the event. It aims to increase diversity in health care.

“This is such important work because we know that people of Black and African descent are under-represented within our health-care system,” says Natalie Cheng, Dartmouth General Hospital medical site lead.

Cheng says health equity and a diverse staff are important to her team at Dartmouth General. She says in their last job fair, they recruited people from multiple departments, including nursing, food and nutrition and porter services. She notes there are lots of career development opportunities within their hospitals as well.

“If everyone at the leadership table belongs to a certain demographic, they may not be aware of the challenges of other demographics,” says Cheng.

Aaliyah Arab-Smith, a community partnership officer at Dartmouth General Hospital, says diversity and more representation helps with more innovative ideas.

“I think it builds trust with patients that are seeking care as well, so that they see themselves in the positions of whatever it may be that they are seeing care from. They see themselves represented and there is like a level of trust that you inherently have,” says Arab-Smith.

“I feel, like, disconnection sometimes when I am seeking care and not seeing myself in the avenues whether it be that I am seeking, I don’t know, primary care, or optometry, whatever care it may be, I feel like sometimes I don’t typically see myself in that space.”

Cheng says there is a lack of trust within the health-care system that will take time to mend.

“We know that there are 400 years of systemic barriers, racism, discrimination, right, so there is a lack of trust in our health-care system and it’s going to take time to rebuild that relationship, rebuild that trust. I think one of the comforting things is that if a patient walks in and sees someone that looks like them, that may be the key to them feeling safe to be able to talk about their health issues,” says Cheng.

Leda Jarvis, chair of the Dartmouth General Hospital African Nova Scotian Affinity Group, says representation in all health-care positions is crucial.

“Looking at respiratory, looking at other jobs besides, I mean doctors and nursing is great but looking at other jobs within Nova Scotia Health, ” says Jarvis.

“We do not have a single community of people always trying to access health care, we have all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds so having diversity in the health-care system would promote and enhance overall experience for everyone and make everyone feel more included,” says Samreen Kaur, who attended the fair.

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