The province has partnered with Beal University in Bangor, Maine, to open 100 nursing seats next year to New Brunswick students for their three-year bachelor of science and nursing program.
Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Trevor Holder said the government would offer a $6,000 grant to students to offset the cost of studying there.
The grant is performance-based and will be paid directly to students in two installments of $3,000 each during their second and third years.
Students must sign a return-of-service agreement to work as a registered nurse in New Brunswick for at least one year after graduation.
Beal University President Sheryl DeWalt said the new slots are only for New Brunswick residents.
“They will get the $20,000 scholarship from Beal University to reduce the entire program costs as well as the incentive from the government,” DeWalt said.
It’s a 32-month program with one year of online learning. Fourteen months of the program would take place in the state of Maine.
All clinical rotations involved with the program will be done at Horizon Health or Vitalité Health facilities.
Holder was asked if this move means New Brunswick doesn’t have the capacity to train these nurses.
“We’ve done a lot to work with our New Brunswick universities and they’ve stepped up, they’ve increased their enrollment. The fact of the matter is there is not one way to fix this. We need all hands on deck. The fact of the matter is Beal has the capacity this January to do it,” Holder said.
He called it a “significant opportunity that we have to take advantage of.”
Margaret Melanson, interim president and CEO of Horizon Health, said a recent recruitment drive to Dubai and other countries was successful.
“Of about 44 interested, we understand the interviews are proceeding with more than 30 of them, so we are very hopeful,” Melanson said.
Horizon Health set a target to hire 708 registered nurses in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
“I am pleased to report we have achieved 42 per cent of that target as of last week,” Melanson said.
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