New Community Navigator Rebecca Rose (photo from the Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce)
The Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce (YACC) has named its Community Navigator.
Rebecca Rose will start in the position on September 16th.
Chamber Executive Director Rick Allwright says her background working at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital and, most recently, in a physiotherapy business, were a big part of the decision to hire her.
“Rebecca has a lot of the experience we were looking for, the committee was really impressed with her background and her connections with the community, which are key for being successful in this position”
Allwright says that right away, she will reach out to medical students from this area, as well as medical residents and she’ll speak with doctors who have chosen to practice in Yarmouth.
“Why they want to be here, why they are staying here, why they came in the first place…just getting the lay of the land to start with. We have a lot of that to pass on to her but she needs to get a feel for that as well”
The job begins on September 16th and Rose will be part of a team from the area heading to a conference just a couple of days later.
The position is for a minimum of 3 years, with periodic assessments by an oversight committee.
In a release, the YACC says that the Community Navigator has to “work in conjunction with the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s physician recruiter for Western Nova Scotia and the establishment of Oversight Committee, which is funded by the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation, Town of Yarmouth, the Municipalities of Yarmouth and Argyle, the Province of Nova Scotia, the Chamber, and Doctors NS”.
Harold Cook, chair of the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation and a member of the Oversight Committee, says “As a primary donor, we’ve been directly involved in the recruitment of the Community Navigator and are extremely pleased with the selection.
“Physician recruitment is a new venture for the Foundation,” Cook says, “but I believe it’s within our scope to join in efforts to ensure that the residents of the Tri-Counties have the medical support that is required.”
The Community navigator position is funded by the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation, the Town of Yarmouth, the Municipalities of Yarmouth and Argyle, the Nova Scotia government, the Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce and Doctors Nova Scotia.
The stakeholders together are contributing nearly $160,000 a year to fund the initiative.
