Today, the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills, and the Honourable John Haggie, Minister of Health and Community Services, were joined by representatives of College of the North Atlantic at the new Central Health long-term care home in Gander to announce an additional 92 Practical Nursing program seats across five campuses for the 2022-23 academic year. These additional seats will help meet the demand for practical nurses and builds on the strong relationship between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and College of the North Atlantic, as well as the college’s long-standing partnership with Eastern Health’s Centre for Nursing Studies, to deliver its Practical Nursing program throughout the province.

A $3.87 million investment, through the provincial-federal Labour Market Development Agreement, will fund this expansion of seats that will be distributed across the college’s Gander, Bay St. George, Burin, St. Anthony and Carbonear campuses. These seats, when added to the 144 regular annual intake, result in a new total capacity of 236 seats.

The distribution of practical nursing seats across College of the North Atlantic campuses for 2022-23 is as follows:

Site	Annual Intake	Additional Seats	Total Capacity
Carbonear	32	8	40
Clarenville	24	–	24
Corner Brook	32	–	32
Grand Falls-Windsor	32	–	32
Happy Valley-Goose Bay	24	–	24
Bay St. George		16	16
Burin		16	16
Gander		36	36
St. Anthony		16	16
Total Seats	144	92	236

The need for practical nurses is significant, particularly in rural areas, and new demand has been created by long-term care facilities that are being constructed in the province.

This is the latest of a number initiatives to improve health care and health outcomes in the province, which are identified in the backgrounder below.

Quotes
“By adding 92 seats to upcoming class of practical nurses at College of the North Atlantic, our government is again delivering on a commitment to develop a workforce that meets the needs of Newfoundland and Labrador. These students are being trained in the communities they will eventually live and work in, which is an incredibly important part of this initiative.”
Honourable Gerry Byrne
Minister of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills

“Licensed Practical Nurses are an integral part of our health care system, and we must continuously work on ways to support those working in our health profession across the province. The additional 92 seats to the LPN program helps address recruitment and retention shortages which will no doubt make a positive impact to the delivery of health care services in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Honourable John Haggie
Minister of Health and Community Services

“Our role at College of the North Atlantic is to provide hands-on and practical training to our students so they can help meet sector and labour demands in the local and global economy. To see this multi-million dollar investment in the college, our School of Health Sciences, and our future Practical Nursing graduates by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador highlights the recognition for the demand and the collaboration to keep us on the right path. We will continue playing an active role in supporting the health care sector and this province to ensure we graduate career-ready Practical Nursing professionals well into the future.”
Elizabeth Kidd
President/Chief Executive Officer, College of the North Atlantic

“The Centre for Nursing Studies welcomes this expansion of the Practical Nursing Program, which will make it more accessible to students in rural areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. As the parent institution for the delivery of practical nursing education in the province, we are pleased to provide the curriculum for this program. We look forward to continued collaboration and partnership with the College of the North Atlantic to further expand the program across the province and are excited at the prospect of welcoming additional practical nurses into this rewarding field of work”
Dr. Kathy Watkins
Director, Centre for Nursing Studies

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Media contacts
Jeremy Reynolds
Immigration, Population Growth and Skills
709-729-2377
jeremyreynolds@gov.nl.ca

Laura Thomas
Health and Community Services
709-729-6986, 727-0341
laurathomas@gov.nl.ca

Michelle Barry
College of the North Atlantic
Michelle.barry@cna.nl.ca

BACKGROUNDER

Recent initiatives to improve health care and health outcomes in Newfoundland and Labrador include:

• Working to address challenges surrounding the recruitment and retention of health care professionals throughout the province by: expanding the number of seats available to Newfoundland and Labrador residents in Memorial University’s Undergraduate Medical Education Program, beginning September 2023, adding seats to the paramedicine program, and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.
• Reaching an agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding between Eastern Health and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute that allows for a number of patients, deemed to be suitable, from Newfoundland and Labrador to travel to Ottawa for cardiac surgery. This temporary, short term-strategy will help address concerns in the province with cardiac surgical backlogs, which have increased due to COVID-19 and the recent cyberattack.
• Launching Our Path of Resilience, a five-year action plan that includes 12 targeted actions and a commitment to improved monitoring, surveillance and research aimed at reducing suicide in Newfoundland and Labrador. The action items focus on community mental health literacy and capacity building, as well as prevention, intervention and follow-up services for people impacted by suicide.
• Introducing a new approach for dealing with the surgical waitlist for hip and knee joint replacement surgeries. Beginning this fall, a number of hip and knee replacements will be performed on an outpatient basis, eliminating the need for a post-operative hospital stay, as patients would mobilize shortly after surgery and return home the same day. The introduction of same-day joint replacements will help to minimize wait times and improve access to care as in some cases lack of available beds for in-patient care has been a barrier to a patient receiving planned surgery.
• Investing $18 million to Memorial University for innovative projects in Newfoundland and Labrador, to reap the awards of accessing state-of-the-art innovation and research. This important work will benefit health care by providing medical data technology and collection, evaluating skills gaps, as well as provide essential exploration and learning opportunities.