Pat and Andee are exactly the type of family the B.C. government is targeting to attract to the province.
He’s a registered nurse with years of hospital experience, she’s a bookkeeper. The South Carolina couple are increasingly nervous about the political climate in the U.S. and considering a move to Northern B.C. with the hope of building a better life for their family.
Global News has agreed not to use their last names, as the couple fears retribution and social media backlash in their community.
Pat loves kayaking and the outdoors, and Andee hates the city. The duo were thinking of potentially setting down roots in Terrace.
But they say red tape and fears about the cost of living are giving them pause.
“It’s a number of different websites, a number of different organizations, trying to keep them all straight just for getting the basic nursing stuff reviewed and transferred over,” Patrick said.
“I’m kind of at the point where honestly I need somebody to help me navigate where to go, with some of the requirements requesting I supply everywhere I have worked before but also wanting how many hours I worked at every place … I have worked at 14 hospitals.”
Patrick said he’s also unclear about how much documentation about his education to include, with instructions seemingly asking him to include all his training for onboarding at those hospitals, along with hundreds of modules of continuing education.
“And then at the end of it they said I need to keep the application brief,” he said.
“I’m a little bit confused.”
The couple is also worried about whether they could even afford to live in B.C.
“It’s a huge concern. It’s a pay cut along with a drastic housing pay increase,” Andrea said.
“U.S. dollar-wise, our mortgage … is $1000 a month right now for three-bedroom, two-bath, backyard. And even at that a lot of times it feels like it is paycheque to paycheque.”
She said the estimates she’s been given for the cost of housing in B.C. — even in the north — are troubling.
It comes as British Columbia mounts an aggressive health-care worker recruitment campaign south of the border, hoping to lure similarly credentialled professionals to address the province’s doctor and nurse shortage.
“I am thrilled to hear a nurse from South Carolina is interested not just in moving to British Columbia but moving to Terrace, that’s just fantastic because northern communities, rural communities really are experiencing a shortage,” Health Minister Josie Osborne said.
“We are expediting the process for nurses as well as doctors coming up from the states.”
Earlier this month, the province announced work was underway to streamline the process to transfer credentials for both professions.
The plan is to have U.S.-trained and American Board of Medical Specialities-certified physicians become fully licensed in B.C. without requiring further assessment, examination or training.
A similar change will soon allow U.S.-trained nurses to apply directly for registration with the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives, without needing any further assessment by a third party.
“Currently there is a two-track process that anybody who’s been trained in the U.S. would need to follow … but we’re working with the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives to eliminate one of those tracks,” Osborne said.
Osborne said the province hopes to have that process ready to go “soon.”
She added that the nurses’ college can access a national database the U.S. health-care system uses to track licensing, discipline and credentials of American nurses, potentially allaying Pat’s worries about how much information to include in his application.
As for the cost of living, she acknowledged B.C. is a more expensive place to live, but noted Northern B.C. would be cheaper. Unionized nurses are among the highest paid in Canada, she said, and also have a strong benefits package and guaranteed nurse-to-patient ratios.
The couple would also have access to B.C.’s public health-care system, she added.
“There may be financial support that is available directly through the Health Authority,” Osborne said.
“So if a nurse coming from the states is interested in working in the North here in B.C. for example, I would strongly encourage them to get in touch with Northern Health Authority and talk to their very informative recruiters about the kinds of supports the health authority might be able to provide.”
All food for thought for Pat and Andee, who say their drive to relocate outside of the U.S. is growing stronger.
“If it is feasibly possible to begin building a decent life, I think we’re strongly committed, and it feels at his point like part of deciphering that is starting the process to see what it will look like,” Pat said.
“As long as everything continues moving forward, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be moving somewhere, probably within Canada.”