'Our focus is to help people age powerfully in place'

Grande Prairie rehab teams grow stronger thanks to Rural Capacity Investment Fund

Story by Gregory Kennedy

GRANDE PRAIRIE — Investments in healthcare talent have boosted staff levels and are bringing benefits and wellness to patients receiving Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (GPRH) and across the region.

“Without a local university to provide us with trained Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, we’ve always needed to recruit from elsewhere,” says Leana DeJager, Allied Health Manager for the GPRH, Queen Elizabeth II Ambulatory Care Centre, Beaverlodge, Spirit River and Hythe, as well as Allied Health Rehab Services.

“Funding from the Rural Capacity Investment Fund (RCIF) has done amazing things for us. More people are coming here and discovering we’re an awesome place to live and work.

“It’s not only helped us to offset the cost of relocation for our new clinicians, but it’s given us the stability and capacity to provide the best care with almost all team members signing up for the full three years.”

In the last round of collective bargaining, the RCIF was established to support recruitment and retention strategies in rural and remote areas in the North, Central and South zones.

Approximately $17 million annually was allocated to support recruitment, retention and relocation incentives, as well as to support team and professional development opportunities for clinical staff in these three rural zones.

“For Physiotherapy, we’ve decreased our staff vacancy rate significantly from 40 per cent all the way down to 7.1 per cent with the help of the RCIF,” says Shannon Cuff, Clinical Lead for Physiotherapy in Grande Prairie.

“We gained eight new recruits to our Rehab team, including two new PT grads from the University of Alberta — and we hadn’t been able to recruit a new physiotherapy grad from there in about 10 years.”

Having more hands-on deck to do this valuable work is paying wellness dividends for both patients and staff, adds Cuff, recently named Clinical Educator of the Year for Physiotherapy by the U of A Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.

“It’s so fulfilling when we come to work to be able to treat all the patients that that need rehab in a timely way, as we help them to grow stronger so they can return home sooner.”

DeJager adds: “Our team members have the time now for collegial discussions and deep-diving on patients and trying to figure out how we can help this person get home, or reach a goal, that they want to reach.”

Over time, she believes RCIF funding can only lead to healthcare savings.

“With more rehabilitation available, we have more opportunities to increase the function of our patients, which means they get to go home — and won’t have to go on to a higher level of care, or long-term care.

“We want to send them home on a better level than when they came in — and give them the tools to stay healthy at home. Ultimately, our focus is to help people age powerfully in place.”

Being able to successfully attract more Physio and Occupational Therapists has also been a tremendous morale booster, both Cuff and DeJager agree.

“We're celebrating again as a team,” says DeJager. “We’re growing closer together — and looking forward to activities and adventures this summer.”