CMH looks outside the region to ease staffing shortage

With staffing shortage woes continuing to plague Cambridge Memorial Hospital, hospital executives have started to search outside of the region for more help. 

On September 17, CMH will be heading to Toronto for the Healthcare Job Fair to seek out and recruit potential candidates for a variety of positions at the hospital. 

CMH is looking to fill nearly 180 positions, both clinical and non-clinical staff. Any help they can get will make a difference in wait times, maintaining appointments and performing surgeries said Stephan Beckhoff, spokesperson for the hospital. 

Statistics Canada recently reported the highest level of job vacancies in Canadian healthcare history with a total of 136,800 positions left vacant after thousands of nurses, doctors and support staff reached retirement, moved on to other positions, or left the sector entirely due to mounting pressures experienced during the pandemic. 

In a press release about the upcoming job fair, Stephen McLarnon, the CEO of HealthSectorTalent, the company organizing this month's job fair, said he thinks Canadian health care providers have turned their backs on the recruitment of internationally trained nurses, because of the lengthy process. 

"The recruitment of overseas nurses and other healthcare professionals is a well-established practice for leading health systems around the world, but not in Canada," he adds.

A job fair is one of the only viable and practical alternatives to sourcing new staff, said McLarnon.

Over 37 health care providers will be at the job fair, including the other two hospitals from Waterloo region, Grand River and St. Mary’s. 

There have been a string of staffing issues that CMH has faced since the start of the pandemic. 

On Sunday, nurses were pulled away from the Cambridge hospital's COVID assessment centre to help out in the emergency department, effectively closing the assessment centre until the next day. 

Dozens of surgeries and appointments have either been cancelled or rescheduled over the summer due to the lack of staff to accommodate patients. 

Longer than normal wait times have seen people waiting in the ER for over 8 hours to see a doctor. 

Beckhoff and CMH hope to see more staff hired to help ease the pressure that is being put on the health care system in Cambridge. 

Admission to the job fair is free and takes place at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Toronto, on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.