Canada recruits hundreds of Practical Nurses from Jamaica

Hundreds of Jamaicans were recruited in October to work in health care, the construction and hospitality service sectors in British Columbia through the Ministry's Canadian Overseas Employment Programme.

The group included mainly certified practical nurses, but also a group of pipe-fitters, welders, and carpenters.

Over the years, Jamaicans have been recruited to work in Ontario, Montreal, Quebec and New Brunswick on the Overseas Farm Work Programme but this is the first time that employees are being requested for the health care, hospitality and construction sectors.

Canada will be recruiting approximately 2,000 practical nurses by the end of 2008.

As part of the recruitment programme, there is a partnership between the Okanagan College and the HEART/NTA, to ensure the certification of workers so that they will be ready to go directly into the workforce once they arrive in Canada.

Source: JIS

Manitoba college closes applications for Registered Nurse program

At Manitoba's Red River College, the waiting list for nurses who want to upgrade their skills has become so long that the school is no longer accepting new applications from them.

The college has sent out letters to Licensed Practical Nurse applicants indicating it had suspended accepting applications from LPNs to the accelerated RN program, which takes about two years.

Some nurses have already been on the waiting list for over 5 years.

Twenty-five LPNs are on the waiting list for the college's accelerated RN program, so no more will be allowed to apply, at least for now, said Louise Gordon, spokeswoman for nursing programs at the college.

"It's simply because we don't believe it's fair to have people wait for that long," she said, noting the waiting list is about five years long.

Goverment promises 100 more places

As reported on Monday, some Manitoba LPNs, frustrated by the wait, are opting to upgrade at Northland College in Minnesota, despite obstacles including higher cost, certification exams and a requirement to attend classes in the U.S. about two days a week.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald said the NDP has committed to opening 100 new spaces for students of nursing.

"We're, on one level, quite delighted that there are lots of people that want to be nurses in Manitoba. It's, on one level, a good problem to have, rather than clamouring for human resources," she said.

"But certainly we know that for every particular program that we created quite recently at Red River, for LPNs to upgrade to RNs, that there is a waiting list that is not satisfactory to people."

However, where those spots will open and for which nursing programs has yet to be determined.

CBC News

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Nurses in Manitoba moving south to improve skills

Nurses in Manitoba moving south to improve skills

A group of nurses in Manitoba is heading south of the border next month to upgrade their skills — something they say they'd have to wait years to do here at home.

The 15 licensed practical nurses are taking courses through Northland College in Minnesota to become registered nurses.

Frances Fleming Lavallee, an LPN for 20 years in Manitoba, said that it could take five to eight years to get into a similar upgrade program at Red River College in Winnipeg.

"It's sad, because Minnesota's saying, 'Yeah, we value what you've done and we value what your experience is, and we want you to come down here,' and that's not what I feel in Manitoba at all," she said.

Another LPN, Anita Peters agreed, wondering why Manitoba isn't making it easier for nurses to upgrade.

"With the nursing crisis … you would think that they would either put more classes, more instruction and open more schools of nursing to accommodate the numbers that are banging on their doors to be educated," she said.

"Our population is growing. They're going to need more nurses. Our growing elderly, our geriatric population is exploding. We need to have nurses in place to look after these folks."

Group members said they have already spent hundreds of dollars on tests and visas in anticipation of online and on-site classes at the school next year. The eight-month program, which involves about two days per week on the Thief River Falls campus, will cost each about $10,000.

Before they will be allowed to practice as RNs in Manitoba, the nurses will have to apply as international students and take an exam, Peters said.

Despite the obstacles, more nurses will head south to further their educations if Manitoba doesn't address the shortage of space in nursing programs, warned Maureen Hancharyk, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.

"If something isn't done soon, it'll be, you know, before long hundreds and not just a dozen," she said.

Part of the concern is that those students may opt to remain in the U.S. after they've completed the course.

Christopher Twiss said he hopes to continue working in Manitoba when the course is done, "but if I'm sitting there in Minnesota or wherever, and they're sitting there with $15,000 signing bonus offers and all these things — well, I'm going to think about it."

Hancharyk said she has raised this issue with the health minister, but has not yet heard anything back.

CBC News

Editor:

"Isn't this totally the opposite of what the Provincial Government is trying to accomplish according to the Manitoba's Nursing Strategy?"