Change coming for registered psychiatric nurses who can't work in N.L., says health minister
CBC
Change may be coming for a registered psychiatric nurse from Mount Pearl who can't work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Right now registered psychiatric nurses working in other provinces can't be hired in Newfoundland in Labrador because their credentials aren't recognized.
The College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador is the regulatory body for all registered nurses and nurse practitioners in the province but it doesn't have the authority to regulate registered psychiatric nurses.
That's a problem for 25-year-old Jasmine Sheppard.
She studied at the Brandon University campus in Winnipeg for four years to become a registered psychiatric nurse and graduated in May with a bachelor of science in psychiatric nursing. Sheppard is working as a registered psychiatric nurse in Winnipeg but wants to return to Newfoundland.
"I mean, it's home," Sheppard told CBC News.
"I can go to places like Ireland and New Zealand and Dubai and work. So it's disheartening to know that all these other places are open for me to go but I can't go home."
Newfoundland and Labrador has struggled with a nursing shortage for years. There are hundreds of vacancies to be filled. The province is also struggling to keep up with a great need for mental health and addictions services — the very services registered psychiatric nurses have been providing in Western Canada for decades.
Newfoundland and Labrador has been working to recruit nurses from the U.K, Ireland and India. Sheppard supports that, she said, but she also believes the province should turn to registered psychiatric nurses for help too.
"I think that Newfoundland obviously needs all the nurses that it can get," she said. "It's no secret that there has been a shortage forever."
Sheppard wants to return to Newfoundland to work at the new mental health and addictions facility being built next to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Tom Osborne has good news for Sheppard.
"Well, I'd like to see her back home. So my message to her is start getting ready because it is going to happen," he said.
Osborne said he'll be announcing a pilot project, as early as September, that will give Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services the ability to hire registered psychiatric nurses.
Premier Doug Ford says his government plans to give Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport special designation that would allow the province to bypass municipal and provincial laws as it pushes to expand the runway downtown.
Jenelle Hughes says she worries every time her two older children take their car to get to Fanshawe College in London, Ont., from their home in Dutton.
Oil prices fell Monday morning after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hold off on striking Iran’s energy infrastructure amid productive talks between the two countries.
While spring technically started late last week, Newfoundland and Labrador isn't free from winter weather just yet.
The Sudbury School Bus Consortium is suspending all school buses in Greater Sudbury as the community continues to clean up following a major storm.
Two large corporate landlords owning a combined 9,008 rental units in Halifax are reporting smaller annual increases in their average rents for 2025 than the previous year.
The Holt government has reached a deal with Ottawa on compensation for tens of millions of dollars in lost sales tax revenue from the Christmas season in 2024.
The government of Saskatchewan has announced plans to reduce the length of non-resident game bird hunting licences to combat illegal guiding.
An 87-year-old Alberta man is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom to stand trial for historical allegations of physical and sexual assault involving minors.
Eight casinos across southwest B.C. have been sold to First Nations in the last two years, with the province's gambling scene set to be reshaped as a result.
Hamilton hosts the Junos Sunday, and the musical awards show is bringing tourists, musicians, concerts and a ton of themed events to the city this week.
The multi-million-dollar deal at the heart of a high-profile fight between the Canadian government and one of the world’s biggest carmakers contains multiple clauses about the company’s footprint in Ontario, according to a copy obtained by CBC Windsor.
In recent months, Calgary police have carried out three day-long safety blitzes, parading out dozens of officers to flood an area with their increased presence — at least, temporarily.