'Long-term nursing is a specialty': Broeders-Morin
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
There’s a need for more nurses in long-term care and Dot Broeders-Morin has some ideas how to attract new grads.

Broeders-Morin, the administrator at Rosebridge Manor in Jasper, says that if long-term care homes want to attract nurses to the field, then they have to go straight to the source – nursing schools.

“We need to somehow convey to nursing graduates that long-term care nursing is a specialty,” says Broeders-Morin. “We have to make this more attractive to grads coming out (of nursing schools).”

Broeders-Morin has several ideas in mind, including offering OMNI scholarships, speaking at schools and getting OMNI staff members onto advisory boards.

These are ways to “help position yourself as a more desirable specialty” nursing sector, she says.

“It gets the OMNI health care name out there,” she says. “It gives you an opportunity to interact with the graduating classes.”

Contrary to popular belief, long-term care nurses are very specialized in their work, says Broeders-Morin.

“The nurses excel in wound care, stroke strategy, palliative care and psychogeriatrics,” she notes. “We see a lot of success in working in these fields.”

Broeders-Morin worked in several branches of health care before settling into long-term care. What attracted her to the sector, she says, is the individual attention residents receive from caregivers.

Having been out of long-term care for some years, Broeders-Morin characterizes her recent return to the field as “coming home.”

“I didn’t realize how much I missed working with seniors,” she says.

So strong is the bond formed between staff and residents at long-term care homes that Broeders-Morin says many nurses retire from the field and “they want to come back.”

Heath Heffernan has been a registered nurse at Rosebridge Manor since he graduated from St. Lawrence College’s Brockville campus 16 years ago. Having only worked in long-term care, Heffernan is clear in his response when asked if he would ever consider other branches of nursing.

“No,” he says. “I absolutely love long-term care.”

For Heffernan, the biggest attraction to long-term care is the residents, who each have unique life stories.

“I find it’s an education with each person I speak with,” he says.

Long-term care has changed considerably since he started his career, Heffernan notes. With residents entering long-term care later in life, he says homes are seeing more cases of dementia and other afflictions.

“In terms of skills, it’s a total change,” he says.

Heffernan adds that there are more opportunities for advancement in long-term care than in other fields.

“You can advance from working as a floor nurse all the way up to management,” he says. “The sky’s the limit.”

For more information on careers in long-term care nursing, contact OMNI’s home office at (705) 748-6631.