To date, Nova Scotia Health has recruited four nurse practitioners from the United States. This historic accomplishment comes on the heels of a focused recruitment effort that began immediately after the 2024 presidential election. The new initiative aims to strengthen the healthcare workforce throughout the province. This area of our country had already been struggling with a lack of healthcare providers.
Colleen Conway-Edwards recently joined us as our geriatric nurse practitioner. She recently relocated from Tennessee to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, with her wife and their six kids. Patrick Finn is currently operating full-time as a practitioner at the Lunenburg County Primary Care Clinic in Nova Scotia. Before that, he practiced under physician supervision in North Carolina.
The campaigns have attracted several of these practitioners into positions around the province from Halifax to Bridgewater to Yarmouth. Conway-Edwards utilizes the clinic in Bridgewater as a base while providing care to patients inside five long-term care homes in the Lunenburg County region.
Nova Scotia seems a strange contrast, yet it cultivates the view that nurse practitioners should practice to the fullest. This opportunity was a huge factor for both Conway-Edwards and Finn’s decisions. As her decision-making process unfolded, Conway-Edwards learned that Nova Scotia has a significantly lower cost of living. She contrasted this advantage to other provinces right across Canada.
“We knew that we were not safe in the States under this current, emerging administration,” said Conway-Edwards. She added, “So we really just cast a wide net, reviewed a lot of locations, and found Canada to be home.”
Finn’s decision underscored this sentiment, as safety and stability was a huge factor in his choice. “I would say that was a pretty significant factor,” he remarked.
Laura O’Brien, the director of recruitment and volunteer services for Nova Scotia Health, acknowledged that the recruitment drive is, indeed, strategic. It helps to recruit and retain professionals who are in search of a safer place to work. “This was strategic in the fact that we know that there are people that do not feel safe, that want to get out of there and we… want to welcome them here to Nova Scotia Health,” she said.
The recruitment drive has so far proven successful, attracting four new nurse practitioners to the team. It’s gotten five others further along in the hiring process with Nova Scotia Health. “It’s a very exciting time to be joining the Nova Scotia healthcare system,” said Finn. There is this window of opportunity that’s happening right now where we’re really starting to look at getting more providers into practice. It’s not enough to make a pretty picture – we are truly listening and responding to community needs. I am thrilled to be joining such an important initiative,” he said.
Based on the family’s fortune, Conway-Edwards’ family experience cultural challenges that were sometimes unique to their circumstances. “I’m married to a woman. We have children with pretty profound special needs,” she explained, adding that her family’s values regarding education, healthcare, and safety guided their decision. “The policy changes in the U.S. have not been what our personal priorities are as a family… we needed to find someplace that was more aligned to the things that we value as a family,” she noted.
That’s why Nova Scotia Health recently announced a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to recruit health professionals. Through this pilot, New York intends to mend holes in the healthcare workforce and promote a more friendly environment for global talent seeking new beginnings. O’Brien stated, “We launched a very large-scale marketing campaign” to attract potential candidates.
