Recently, a group of health care professionals were recognized at the Saskatchewan Legislature. It was an opportunity to highlight the ongoing work of the Health Human Resources (HHR) Action Plan, celebrate the successes over the past 14 months since the Action Plan was launched, and thank the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority for their tireless work to advance multiple initiatives of the HHR Action Plan.
Crisa Sarte, Herschel Andrew Urbina, Bailee Krupski, Tyson Meyers, Tammy Neuwirth and Liliana Canadic were among the group of guests who received a warm welcome from Health Minister Everett Hindley and the Legislative Assembly.
They come from different backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common. As dedicated health professionals, they want to be part of the solution to strengthen health care teams across our province.
Bailee Krupski, Health Minister Everett Hindley, Tammy Neuwirth, Liliana Canadic, Tyson Meyers
Crisa Sarte and Herschel Andrew Urbina
Crisa Sarte and Herschel Andrew Urbina are registered nurses from the Philippines. They both chose to make Saskatchewan their home and build a career in this province. They recently arrived in the province for their clinical training as part of their nursing bridging program. Crisa will be working in Wilkie and Andrew in Wolseley, and they both look forward to serving their new communities.
Crisa and Andrew are among 400 Filipino nurses who received conditional offers of employment with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Currently, 185 Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) are enrolled in training. Nearly 90 have arrived from the Philippines for the clinical portion of their training and will begin working once they get licensed.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has also had great success connecting recent nurse graduates with employment opportunities and has hired nearly 880 new graduates.
Bailee Krupski
Bailee Krupski is one of the new graduate nurses from the province recently hired.
Bailee graduated from the Saskatchewan Collaborative Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in December 2022, and she’s been working as a registered nurse at Regina General Hospital since January 2023. She is thankful to work on a unit where she has senior nurses to learn from.
Tyson Meyers
Tyson Meyers is a registered nurse and recent graduate as well. He started working in Lanigan Emergency Room in May 2023 and has been taking on new responsibilities. The community is relying on him to provide effective patient care in rural Saskatchewan.
Tyson is a recipient of the Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive, which offers up to $50,000 to new employees in nine high-priority health occupations. This incentive is available in 54 rural and remote communities across Saskatchewan and has seen great success with more than 220 incentives approved to date.
The Government of Saskatchewan, along with the SHA and partners, has been working hard to stabilize staffing in rural and remote areas of the province. As part of the Health Human Resources Action Plan, more than 200 of these positions have been filled in new and enhanced permanent full-time positions in nine high-priority occupations in rural Saskatchewan. Many of those hired as permanent were employees previously in casual or temporary roles, and this provided them the opportunity to work full-time in the communities in which they live.
Tammy Neuwirth
Tammy Neuwirth, also recognized at the Legislature, is a medical laboratory technologist and Director of Laboratory Medicine, Rural with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. She is based in Swift Current and oversees nearly 90 medical labs. Tammy started as a front-line lab technologist and worked her way through as a supervisor, manager and then director.
Tami is pleased to contribute to strengthening rural health care, as a person with rural roots herself. She is part of the SHA efforts to attract more young people with a rural background to return to their communities after graduation.
Liliana Canadic
Liliana Canadic, the Ministry of Health’s Chief Nursing Officer, is originally from Croatia, where she graduated from nursing. She later moved to Canada and furthered her nursing education here. She worked in health care in Croatia, North Africa, Ontario and Northwest Territories prior to joining the Ministry of Health in 2021.
Liliana has been involved in the development of the HHR Action Plan since the beginning, and she serves as HHR Action Plan Executive Team member. She also works closely with ministry partners to advance the professional nursing practice in Saskatchewan.
All of these health care professionals are making valuable contributions to patient care and the Saskatchewan health care system, along with many others who have made the choice to move to or stay in the province and grow a health career here.
Saskatchewan offers many advantages: affordable living, full-time employment opportunities, excellent wages and benefits, strong health care teams and welcoming communities. The province is a great place to train and work in health care, with financial loans, bursaries and scholarships available to students, competitive incentive packages and many other avenues to build a health care career.
