SHELLBROOK — Premier Scott Moe is looking to address the ongoing lack of health workers in rural areas of the province following Health Minister Paul Merriman’s recruitment trip to the Philippines.
Merriman left for the capital Manila last week as part of a delegation from the province seeking to offer jobs and hire Filipino healthcare professionals that could help mitigate a looming staff shortage and result in more hospital closures in the future.
Moe told SASKTODAY.ca that people from the Philippines are part of the history of the province’s growth, with most Filipinos working in healthcare while also filling other labour needs, whether in rural areas or the cities.
“Saskatchewan has a long and rich history with the people from the Philippines. They move to many communities in our province, including Shellbrook, Spiritwood and other rural areas and large urban centres,” said Moe.
“It was about 10 years ago when we had several healthcare workers that moved here and in other industries. It was then when Saskatchewan Polytechnic signed several memorandums of understanding with their counterparts in the Philippines.”
SaskPoly formed partnerships with several post-secondary institutes in the Philippines the l, the latest with Iloilo province’s Central Philippine University, which is more than 600 kilometres from the Philippine capital of Manila.
Moe said the MOUs signed and the partnerships formed by the Saskatchewan provincial government with its Philippine counterparts are training in the healthcare sector, particularly in nursing and LPN will strengthen that longstanding relationship.
“That relationship between Saskatchewan and [Philippine] post-secondary colleges, and the people of Saskatchewan and the people of the Philippines, has become closer over the last 10 years,” said Moe.
“When we called out several months ago, we need healthcare workers, families from the Philippines [suggested] we should look at bringing additional healthcare workers from the Philippines to Saskatchewan to help us in our facilities.”
Moe added that Saskatchewan already has a Trade and Export Development Office in Manila as an attraction office for healthcare workers and disciplines along with SaskPoly, which established its own to continue recruiting students to enrol and study in the province.
He said thousands of applications were received by the office as Merriman and other Saskatchewan Health Authority officials held meetings where job offers were discussed to bring Filipino healthcare professionals to various communities in the province.
“These are job offers to people to work in healthcare communities like Shellbrook, Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert. And other job openings that we have. It just points toward the close relationship we have between the peoples of Saskatchewan and the Philippines,” said Moe.
Successful trip
Merriman and the Saskatchewan delegation recently returned to the province and reported that their healthcare recruitment mission resulted in 128 employment offers to registered nurses and one continuing care aide.
SHA officials did in-person interviews in Manila with the applications of the registered nurses going through a pre-screening process even before the arrival of the Saskatchewan delegation. There are a lot of strong candidates from those who attended the general information sessions.
Merriman, in a statement, said they accept the auditor’s recommendations as they have a recruitment strategy that includes its commitment and firm intention to tap the healthcare workforce of the Philippines to help fill the need of the lack of health staff.
“To achieve these outstanding results, we took bold steps by going to the Philippines to engage in-person more than 1,200 interested and available healthcare workers. Filipino people travelled from every corner of their country to attend our information sessions,” said Merriman.
“By the end of the week, the SHA extended 128 conditional offers to qualified and enthusiastic members of our future registered nurse workforce, many with relatives and friends who already belong to Saskatchewan’s growing Filipino community.”
He added that more interviews are scheduled to further potential screen workers as their delegation promoted healthcare opportunities through hosting workshops and information sessions assisted by licensing, regulatory and immigration processes.
Their delegation also held bilateral meetings with the Philippine government through Secretary Susan Ople, the head of the newly formed Migrant Workers Department. Ople is the daughter of former Philippine Senator Blas Ople and is a known Filipino migrant workers’ rights advocate.
“It was an honour to meet with Secretary Ople to discuss the supports our province has in place for recruits so they can make a successful transition into our workforce along with assistance and support for families settling into our communities,” said Merriman.
“We are committed to following ethical principles in the recruitment efforts while creating the positive working environments and conditions that make Saskatchewan a top destination of choice for employment candidates.”
