Financial incentives are being offered as part of a recruitment drive at Windsor Regional Hospital to attract and hire more nurses.
The hospital is one of several Ontario hospitals eligible to offer government-supported financial incentives through the Ministry of Health.
The incentives include signing bonuses ranging between $10,000 and $75,000, depending on qualifications, for nurses from out of province or out of country, including Canadians currently working in the U.S.
Windsor Regional Hospital Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Executive, Karen Riddell told AM800's The Morning Drive that they are focused on attracting experienced nurses.
"To recruit them into our high demand areas; critical care programs, medical/surgical programs, recovery rooms and operating rooms in the hospital," she says. "Those have been big challenges across the province and certainly locally as well."
Riddell says the signing bonuses are based on various factors.
"The $75,000, part of that is relocation assistance, part of that is sign-on bonuses," she says. "It really varies based on what your particular circumstances are."
Windsor Regional Hospital Met Campus (AM800 News file photo)
Critical care nurses from out of province or out of country, including Canadians working in the U.S., are eligible for up to a $75,000 in signing bonuses.
Registered nurses working out of province or out of country, including Canadians working in the U.S., are eligible for up to $25,000 in signing bonuses if they join in general practice nursing.
Retired and currently unemployed nurses in Ontario are eligible for up an up to $25,000 signing bonus for critical care nursing and $10,000 for general nursing.
The recruitment drive is focused on attracting nurses to work in several key areas of the hospital including Critical Care, Medical/Surgical and in Post-Anesthesia Care Units at the two other campuses.
A hospital spokesperson tells AM800 News that at least two dozen positions are currently open but more positions are expected to be available in the near future.
CLICK HERE to find more information on the recruitment drive and the job openings that are available.