HALIFAX: Scotiabank’s ScotiaRISE initiative has made a transformative $500,000 gift to the QEII Foundation in support of the Nova Scotia International Community of Health Care Workers Engagement (NICHE) program, led by Nova Scotia Health.
This game-changing investment will support both the professional and personal integration of internationally educated and trained healthcare workers and their families.
NICHE helps newcomers and those returning to Nova Scotia build long-term connections in their communities.
It is part of the ongoing efforts of Nova Scotia Health to attract and keep sought-after healthcare talent from around the world to increase access to care in communities across the province.
ADVERTISEMENT:
Scotiabank’s support is provided through ScotiaRISE, a community investment initiative designed to remove barriers and enable individuals and communities to thrive.
The funds will help internationally educated care providers feel at home faster by enhancing community-focused initiatives – helping these individuals and their families feel welcomed, supported, and fully integrated into the province’s economy and society.
This may include providing cultural awareness training and education programs, establishing welcoming centres and welcoming families to aid in relationship building, confirming childcare arrangements and temporary housing for ease of settling in, identifying community navigators and allyship to help newcomers find their way in their new community, and much more.
The $500,000 ScotiaRISE investment contributes to the QEII Foundation’s $100-million We Are campaign, aimed at transforming health care at and through the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
ADVERTISEMENT:
QUOTES
“By Nova Scotia Health working in partnership with the government, academia, and regulatory bodies, we’re making it easier for internationally educated healthcare professionals to work and live in our province.
Through programs like NICHE, newcomers feel supported both at work and in community to establish their new home away from home.”
– Dr. Annette Elliott Rose, Nova Scotia Health Chief Nurse Executive & Vice President, Clinical Performance & Professional Practice.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the generous $500,000 ScotiaRISE gift to the QEII Foundation in support of NICHE.
NICHE’s approach to community-integrated supports is what makes this program shine and helps ensure our province not only retains our newly-recruited healthcare professionals, but that those individuals and their families thrive.
Recruitment and retention of medicine’s best and brightest is a key pillar of the QEII Foundation’s We Are campaign and we’re thrilled to have Scotiabank and their philanthropy at the forefront of these efforts.”
– Susan Mullin, QEII Foundation President and CEO.
ADVERTISEMENT:
“Through ScotiaRISE, Scotiabank supports programs that enhance newcomers’ experience and professional careers.
By helping healthcare professionals feel welcomed and supported, the NICHE program will help strengthen the strong bonds and relationships newcomers are building as they settle in our communities.”
– Nicola Ray Smith, Senior Regional Vice President, Atlantic Region, Scotiabank.
“I worked as a registered nurse in India for 14 years, across a variety of departments and care areas.
Through the NICHE program, my family and I moved to Nova Scotia over a year ago – making Bridgewater our home.
My wife, Pooja, and I are both registered nurses at South Shore Regional Hospital and we just recently bought our first house.
I’m very thankful for all the help we received through NICHE and its community supports during our transition and that this donation from Scotiabank will help other families like ours. We’re proud to be delivering care to Nova Scotians.”
– Prakash Kulkarni, registered nurse, South Shore Regional Hospital.
ADVERTISEMENT:
QUICK FACTS
NICHE stands for Nova Scotia’s International Community of Healthcare Workers Engagement (NICHE). This Nova Scotia Health program recruits and provides wraparound support for internationally educated and trained healthcare workers coming to Nova Scotia.
Scotiabank’s $500,000 gift to the QEII Foundation is a vital investment in the community side of NICHE. Through NICHE, Scotiabank’s donation will help to ensure that these healthcare providers and their families have access to the resources they need to feel embraced and connected to their new communities.
Although NICHE initially focused on recruiting nurses, it has been expanded to include other high-demand international health professionals. A number of partners from across the system are involved with the program, which has brought almost 800 internationally educated nurses into the province to meet its growing demands.
Support of the NICHE program is part of the QEII Foundation’s $100-million We Are campaign.
ScotiaRISE is Scotiabank’s ten-year, $500-million commitment and social impact strategy helping people by improving high school and post-secondary participation, removing career barriers, and supporting newcomer economic inclusion. ScotiaRISE also invests in programs that address reclamation of Indigenous language and culture as well as urgent and basic needs, such as improving access to basic supports like food and water, shelter and medical care.
