ARICHAT - Richmond County officials are hoping that a campaign to attract new general practitioners to the Strait of Canso region will bear fruit as a result of efforts launched this past winter, prior to the arrival of Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 social-distancing protocols.

The county and the nieghbouring Town of Port Hawkesbury have joined forces with the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce (SACOC), the Cape Breton Partnership (CBP) and administrators of the Strait-Richmond Hospital in Evanston, St. Anne’s Community and Nursing Care Centre in Arichat and the Dr, Kingston Memorial Community Health Centre in L’Ardoise to launch South Cape Breton: Recruiting For Health.

The committee's new Health Recruitment Navigator, Maggie MacDonald, provided at update on the program's progress at the latest Committee of the Whole meeting for Richmond Municipal Council. Also present to answer council's questions following the presentation was Dr. Dorothy Barnard, who assists the Cape Breton South: Recruiting For Health program from her office at the Kingston Memorial Health Project in L'Ardoise. 

The initiative took a step forward when local officials hosted six new doctors from around the world that are taking part in Nova Scotia’s Practice Ready Assessment Program (PRAP). The program ensures that international medical graduates that wish to practice family medicine in Nova Scotia have the appropriate clinical skills and knowledge to provide quality patient care.

During the first weekend of February, five Nigerian physicians and a sixth from the Czech Republic, all PRAP participants, were given tours of Port Hawkesbury’s schools, recreation facilities, trail systems and even the town waterfront.

With local vice-principals offering tours of Port Hawkesbury’s school buildings, this portion of the visit also took the doctors to the various recreational facilities found at the SAERC high school site, including the Strait Area Pool, a 480-seat auditorium, and the town’s branch of the Eastern Counties Regional Library.

Following the presentation to the September 14 council session, Richmond councilors Alvin Martell and Jason MacLean praised MacDonald, Barnard and their colleagues for their efforts in attempting to bring new family physicians to the Strait Area. MacLean, the councilor for District Five on the northeastern side of Richmond County, noted that he had worked closely with MacDonald on the Cape Breton South: Recruiting for Health initiative and was grateful for her presence and diligence in recent weeks.