A Healthy Dose of Innovation – Envision Saint John Video Submission
Part of Envision Saint John: The Regional Growth Agency’s workforce mandate includes physician attraction and retention.
As our population grows, there is a specific focus on attracting family physicians to build their practice in the region.
Our team works closely with Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick – the only medical school in the province that is located within an innovative health cluster. The cluster includes the University of New Brunswick Saint John campus and its Integrated Health Initiative, New Brunswick Community College’s Allied Health program, and the largest acute care hospital in the province.
We regularly hold discovery sessions for medical students that have a focus in family medicine to learn about roadblocks and assist them in navigating business resources that are required to start a practice, as these skills are not necessarily taught in their medical school program. We also attend trade shows and work with the provincial government to showcase why the Saint John Region is the ideal place to build a life post-med school.
To help tell the story, a promotional video was storyboarded to be used at tradeshows and through outreach engagement with prospective physicians. This asset has now been shared with the provincial health authority’s recruitment team and is used regularly to highlight the Saint John Region’s value proposition.
We know that lots of communities throughout Atlantic Canada offer a great lifestyle and balance – but we wanted to lean into what sets our region apart – our specific health cluster that is driving innovation and working to enhance health outcomes for New Brunswickers and beyond.
Pulling on existing footage the agency has captured for destination campaigns was a starting point to showcase the lifestyle message. Partnering with the health authority to obtain Saint John-focused on-the-ground medical footage was also necessary. Tying these assets together with a new video shoot at the medical school to capture an inside look at research and technology – as well as feature the talent pipeline – ensured we had a well-rounded shot list.
We knew we only had a few seconds of footage to set the stage, so we wanted to be able to understand each shot quickly and took into consideration showcasing lab shots with modern technology, lectures with students and instructors, and close-up shots of tech-related research – driving home our message that in the Saint John Region, we have A Healthy Dose of Innovation.
The video was launched during the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce Luncheon with a panel discussion on the State of Health Care in the Region. Provincial partners use the video as a recruitment tool, and we created a specific physician recruitment landing page on the Envision Saint John website. A recruitment handout was also created in collaboration with the video to share at target tradeshows and link back to the physician recruitment landing page.
This work was focused on attracting physicians, which is a big piece of the puzzle, but it’s through retention that we will truly achieve success. During our outreach and connections with medical students, it has been apparent that physicians are more likely to stay and build a practice in a community in which they have a connection. During the Chamber’s State of Health Care event, we also announced two bursaries– each valued at $2,500 and renewable for four years, totaling $20,000 in financial assistance.
Recipients must sign a one-year pledge to practice in the Saint John Region following graduation, and preference will be given to applicants that have declared an interest in family medicine.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwf2QBAqW2o
Link to Landing Page: https://www.envisionsaintjohn.com/physician-recruitment#
