Provincial funding is helping to ensure that new nursing graduates have the support they need when they begin work at Chatham-Kent’s hospital.
The Ontario government has renewed roughly $150,000 in annual funding for the Clinical Scholar Program at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance to support the cost of two full-time positions within the hospital.
The new government program, which was introduced last year, helps grads transition into the hospital setting, ensuring there is assistance for those who need more time to adjust.
CKHA President and CEO Adam Topp said the initiative is a great way for an experienced nurse to provide mentorship to the hospital’s newest staff.
“There has been a lot of change over in staff over the last four or five years. A number of people have left the profession. The average of our nurses in younger. [So] this is a really great opportunity,” he said.
The Clinical Scholar Program has been up and running at CKHA since October.
CKHA Chief Nursing Executive Meredith Whitehead said the Clinical Scholar Program is also an effective staff retention tool.
It’s a struggle when you’re a new grad trying to figure out all of these things. The world is a very different place than [it is] when you’re in school. So this is really about that retention issue and making more confident nurses when they’re dealing with patients and our families,” she said.
CKHA’s staff vacancy rate at the end of October was 3.51 per cent, compared to eight per cent vacancy back in January 2024. The nursing vacancy rate was also at 4.69 per cent, down from 10 per cent in January.