Aurora College has received $150,000 to tackle the NWT’s healthcare staffing crisis, including work to encourage more Indigenous and northern youth into the sector.
The money comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The college says its project, titled Spark the Fire, will bring together 22 northern researchers to work on healthcare recruitment and retention.
A lack of healthcare staff has been a constant issue in the NWT for years, ranging from the closure of Yellowknife’s obstetrics unit for months to the burning-out of community nurses.
In a press release announcing its funding, Aurora College said Indigenous people remained “significantly under-represented” in healthcare and social services.
Spark the Fire will “engage with Indigenous and northern youth in grades 9-12 to identify local strengths and barriers to pursuing healthcare and social services careers,” the college wrote, in the hope of devising new recruitment and retention initiatives.
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The college said the project is also supported by health research body Hotıì ts’eeda, the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, Yukon Hospitals’ First Nations Health Programs and the Institute of Circumpolar Health Research, alongside the GNWT.
