By Geoff Wilson
Shelburne residents have voiced concerns to Nova Scotia Health about health services in their community for some time. In response, NSHA leaders have made several visits to the community to reassure community leaders and to address rumours and concerns about health services.
Late in 2018 a municipal leader in Shelburne County reached out and asked NSHA to engage with the community, in a new and meaningful way, to address its concerns.
It was felt the best way to get to the root of these issues was to meet them head-on and try to understand people’s underlying concerns.
This is what NSHA did in 2019 to tackle a whole range of community concerns in Shelburne County. Early in 2019, NSHA brought in Kathy Jourdain, an experienced consultant in conflict, change management and community engagement. She, together with NSHA’s public engagement team, developed a strategy that aimed to identify the key issues and bring the community together to talk about how to address challenges.
In May and June 2019, more than 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with municipal leaders, community stakeholders, business people and staff. These interviews uncovered 12 distinct issues but only three linked directly to health care.
Most of the issues were associated with other factors, such as a sense of isolation felt by residents of Shelburne County. There were positive factors identified as well, such as a sense of community pride expressed, and a belief in innovation and hope.
“The public engagement sessions and the training provided to the Community Advisory Group created the opportunity to shift the public dialogue,” said George Harding, Mayor of Lockeport. “It was gratifying to hear the sincere and positive conversations from citizens ranging from age 16 to 87 years old. The public engagement skills taught to our group were easily transposed to municipal topics as well as promoting a better understanding of the delivery of health care to the citizens in Shelburne County. From beginning to end, the experience was rewarding as citizens valued the opportunity to share their stories and be listened to.”
Two advisory groups were formed – one for Roseway Hospital staff, and a community advisory group—to help plan public and staff engagement sessions. These groups also recommended a plan to bring municipal and other leaders together. These engagement sessions were held throughout the fall.
In addition, training in The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter was offered to the community with close to 40 participants.
The objective behind this training was to provide community residents with the skills and ability to self-organize.
From this training, a number of Shelburne County residents were inspired to form a group to advocate for a community recreation facility in the county. This group continues to be active, working toward the development of a facility.
Roseway Hospital staff engagement sessions happened in late October 2019. These sessions identified that the hospital’s greatest strength was in its family-like workplace culture.
There were other issues, such as identifying creative solutions to address access to care issues faced by Shelburne residents.
Staff at Roseway have continued to work together beyond the scope of the engagement to further strengthen the hospital’s workplace culture.
Public engagement sessions were held in Shelburne, Clark’s Harbour, Lockeport and Barrington Passage in early November.
These resulted in advice for NSHA about health care delivery but also some other critical issues such as community transportation and greater collaboration amongst the municipal units in the county.
The key feedback from the sessions was shared with NSHA’s local and zone leadership who are continuing to work on improving access to care and services.
Through the work with the municipal and other leaders, the public and NSHA staff in Shelburne County the tone of the community conversation has changed, and people are noting a sharp decline in negative social media and news media posts focused on health care. While there is still work to be done, Shelburne has laid the foundation in creating a better way for NSHA to connect and communicate with the communities we serve.
