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lem even sooner. The median age of
Muskoka’s population is 45 compared to
39 for the rest of the province, and 20 per
cent of Muskoka’s population is 65 and
over compared to the rest of Ontario at
14 per cent.
“Within five years, we are looking at
losing a large number of staff. The same
thing as throughout Ontario, but we just
see it a little sooner here,” Broere says.
The survey also found that 48 per cent
of Muskoka’s healthcare staff could retire
within 10 years. According to the report,
over half of Muskoka’s workforce was 45
or older, and 27 per cent would likely be
retired or semi-retired within five years.
Originally the steering committee
thought there would be a shortage of personal
support workers but the study
found the vacancy rate for personal
support workers was just three per cent.
“Georgian College offered the personal
support worker program at the local
Muskoka campus” Broere says. “It
worked and filled the gap.”
The Muskoka Cares survey found
most of Muskoka’s health care organizations
have had the most success recruiting
locally, but had little success recruiting
from outside Muskoka.
Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare management
wants to structure things at the
hospital so staff members are able to
work past their first retirement opportunity.
They’ve also brought in a lot of training
opportunities and help nurses to gain
experience and training in their chosen
area.
Through the Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care’s Nursing Secretariat,
there is a program in place to fund new
graduate nurses working in the hospitals.
“We like to place them with senior
experienced nurses,” McFarlane says.
Bev Lawson, a nurse at the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Site, rolls
an IV tower down the hall.
“We take full advantage of it every year.”
About 80 per cent of the students that
start here through the introductory program
end up staying in Muskoka. “It is
our most successful recruitment tool,”
says McFarlane.
Hughes notes that Muskoka has some
seasonal staff who work here only in the
summer.
“We have nurses who take off for the
winter and fill in for sumer. We have that
in Muskoka and we are able to capitalize
on it,” he says.
The fact that the hospitals are in
Muskoka is a recruitment tool, he says.
“We want that branding.”
Many new staff decide to move to
Muskoka because they want to change
their lifestyle to avoid the hustle and bustle
of major cities.
“A lot want the closeness to nature,”
says McFarlane. “It’s the kids who went
to summer camp here or went to
Algonquin park. They made a conscious
decision to choose this area.”
To recruit and retain staff, the Muskoka
Cares group has applied to the Ministry
of Food, Agriculture and Rural
Affairs through the Rural Economic
Development Program, which is
devoted to improving access to health
care in rural communities. They hope to
hear a response in the next few months.
The Muskoka Cares group would like
Photograph: Don MacTavish
to make high school students more aware
of health care opportunities by promoting
those careers through the schools and
to the public in general. They also found
that accommodation was an issue and
would like to be able offer some sort of
accommodation support to new health
care recruits. Some financial education
supports would also be put in place.
To support employees who want to
further their education, a peer mentoring
program will be explored. A youth
internship program is also proposed.
Marketing and recruitment tools, such
as a video, logo and website may be
created to help encourage employees to
come to work and live in Muskoka.
Expanded training opportunities for students,
partnership training proposals and
workplace learning with improved access
to technology are all part of the plan.
The Muskoka Cares project will unite
resources and employers in Muskoka
and will support the retention and
recruitment of all health care occupations,
according to the report.
Broere stresses that the competition is
tough and Muskoka must work hard to
recruit new health care professionals and
retain the ones who are already here.
“There are recruiting campaigns in the
areas that surround us,” she says. In the
next two years the Royal Victoria Hospital
in Barrie will be hiring 1,300 healthcare
staff including 700 nurses. Simcoe
County is opening 140 new long-term
care beds, North Bay will be hiring 300
more nurses and Peterborough Regional
Healthcare Centre will be hiring 652 staff
including 458 nurses.
“While waiting for the funding, work
will still be going on behind the scenes,”
she says. “A strong healthcare supply is
part of the foundation of a health community.”
Nurse loves living in Muskoka
Myles Sutherland was happy to leave
the city and move to Huntsville to work
as a nurse.
He joined Huntsville District
Memorial Hospital about two years ago
and says it was a great move for he and
his family.
“We had two young kids and we just
wanted to move out of the city,” he says.
They had always vacationed in
Muskoka and thought about relocating
to the area. Finding their dream home
was the thing that convinced them to
make the move.
Sutherland had run his own business
in central Ontario. He was conducting
clinical trials, dealing with employees
and with the stress of being selfemployed,
was ready for a change.
When the right home became available
just north of Huntsville, Sutherland
and his wife bought it and moved
north.
“I put in my resume (at Muskoka
Algonquin Healthcare) at 3:30 p.m.
and by 5:30 p.m. they called for an
interview.
“They had a position here as a float
nurse, in ER, ICU and surgical,” he
says, explaining that it sounded like an
interesting job.
He took the job and his wife, also in
the medical field, got a job in the hospital
in the ultrasound department.
Sutherland really likes the variety that
his job offers.
“You never know what comes
through the door and I always get to be
where I’m needed. I may sit beside a
dying person and talk to them or an
ambulance may bring someone in on a
stretcher. You just start doing what you
were trained to do.”
He always knew he wanted to be a
nurse.
“My mom was a nurse and then I did
a co-op in high school and it sold me,”
he says. “Nursing opens doors to a lot of
things. It is very broad. That is what I
liked.”
Sutherland is enjoying working in the
hospital and living in Muskoka.
“We love it,” he says. “I really enjoy
the people and the small community.”
Myles Sutherland moved to Muskoka and took a position as a nurse at
the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital
Photograph: Sandy Lockhart
6 February 2010 www.whatsupmuskoka.com