Sault Area Hospital working hard to fill employment gaps
Plenty of opportunities await healthcare professionals in Sault Ste. Marie
Banluta started training to become a nurse in his native Philippines, all while dreaming of moving to Canada. After some research, he found that Sault Ste. Marie offered everything he needed — a great training program, routes to employment, a growing and friendly community with multicultural representation, a good work-life balance, thanks to its short commutes and close access to the outdoors.
He decided to make the move and enrolled with Sault College, which works closely with Sault Area Hospital (SAH) to find employment opportunities for its students.
Rosanna Naslovar, SAH’s manager of recruitment and retention, visits Sault College once a week to assist with student training. She supported Banluta via recommendation through the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program (RNIP), and upon graduating last spring, he was granted a post graduate work permit (PGWP) and started work at SAH as a non-registered float nurse, becoming a registered nurse within six months.
“Over the last year, my recruitment team and I have built strong connections with the college staff. We have gone into classrooms to make presentations, completed mock interviews with the students, as well as had one-on-one meetings with students to see where their experience and interests lie,” she explains.
When it comes to navigating the RNIP program, Naslovar says the process is easier than you think, especially when there are full-time positions available.
“Working with Lackeisha Sogah (labour force development coordinator) at the City was a breeze — she was very patient and informative as she walked us through the RNIP process. The paperwork was seamless to fill out,” she says. “The City offers employers great support in any questions we have, very much working in partnership to grow our city and fill the labour shortages that we have experienced.”
Banluta and his classmates have helped to fill in some of those gaps. Naslovar says, in total, SAH hired 15 registered nurses from his graduating class into full-time positions and was able to apply for RNIP for them right away. The hospital also hired a handful more nurses into part-time positions.
Even still, there are plenty more opportunities for healthcare workers seeking employment in the area, and with the RNIP program being so easy to navigate, Naslovar (a first-generation Canadian herself) believes professionals from home and abroad have plenty of reasons to consider relocating to Sault Ste. Marie.
“As the manager of recruitment and retention at Sault Area Hospital, I am committed to help in any way I can to make newcomers’ dreams come true. It is so great to see the growing diversity within our hospital setting,” she says. “Sault Ste. Marie is a welcoming place, a great place to raise families, and offers great opportunities for those next generations.”
Having now settled into his new career and community and with plans to marry next year, Banluta agrees.
“This is the best place to live in Canada,” he boasts, “because it offers a perfect work-life balance and a welcoming and supportive community for you, your family and your growing children.”
To find out what opportunities await you in Sault Ste. Marie, visit sah.on.ca.