SASKATOON — Minister for Advanced Education Ken Cheveldayoff assured the government is investing in health-care education as part of its long-term strategy to train a workforce that will address the staffing issues experienced in health-care facilities across the province, especially as they plan to open Urgent Care Centre facilities in other communities.
Cheveldayoff said Sept. 2 that the past few years they have been interacting with students from Grades 10-12 to encourage them to consider pursuing a health-care career in Saskatchewan.
“Now, we're looking at Grades 7, 8 and 9. We're interacting with young students and informing them about the great careers available in health care in Saskatchewan. We're planning for the future. We know that's often a decade or a little less than that. Still, we're finding a significant uptake among Saskatchewan students,” said Cheveldayoff.
“They [students] want to learn more about a possible health-care career. We're expanding seats at our medical college. We're enhancing licensed practical nurse and registered nurse [education], which is essential. The regional colleges in the province are ensuring that people can gain that education as close to their home community as possible.”
He added that another example of the government’s seriousness is the $300 million Saskatchewan Polytechnic campus being built in the Innovation Corridor of the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology (SIIT), with both learning institutions offering health care as one of their programs.
“SIIT is a real jewel in our province. They work directly with First Nations students and provide them with a comfortable atmosphere in which they can develop the skills necessary. We have a record number of health-care professionals that are going to be trained by SIIT, focusing on nurses and health-care aides,” said Cheveldayoff.
“SIIT is making it very comfortable for First Nations students across the province to come to Saskatoon and around the province to gain that training. What we're finding is that with the graduates, the vast majority of them want to stay in Saskatchewan or are here for the long term. We’re so pleased.”
Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill added that, aside from its partnerships with post-secondary educational institutions, the organization is also working with ACD, which will host health-care programs at SIIT. These graduates could then help fill the staffing shortages in health-care facilities in the province, including UCCs, which the government plans to open in other communities.
“For the last several years now, we've been making investments in more nursing seats all across the province. As we open facilities in La Ronge, open up an expanded facility in Prince Albert and more acute beds here in Saskatoon, we're going to have those graduates coming online,” said Cockrill.
“Saskatchewan again has competitive compensation, we've got competitive incentive packages as well for health-care workers. We look forward to making sure that those young graduates finishing up their health-care education right here in Saskatchewan [have] jobs all over the place [available] for them in Saskatchewan, whether in Saskatoon, the north or rural communities.”
The University of Saskatchewan, the University of Regina, and all regional colleges across the province are also part of their investment in post-secondary health-care programs plans.
