New Mi'kmaq Health Authority Receives $9 Million in Federal Funds

STRAIT AREA - Health care takes centre stage on a new edition of TELILE 24/7, which highlights local physician-recruitment efforts, a new health network for Nova Scotia's indigenous population, and a local municipality's efforts to install a COVID-19 vaccination policy for its employees. 

We begin the medical theme at 1:35 as host Adam Cooke interviews Gina MacDonald, the new Healthcare Recruitment Navigator for the Cape Breton South: Recruiting For Health Committee. On the job since December, MacDonald is hoping her experience within medical offices around the Strait Area will allow her to make the case for additional health care professionals to Nova Scotia's new Office of Healthcare Professional Recruitment and its CEO, Dr. Kevin Orrell. 

COVID-19 dominates the show's next two items, with an update at 15:16 about Richmond Municipal Council's efforts to craft a vaccination policy for its employees - a process that is still ongoing to this day - and a follow-up story at 18:00 about Warden Amanda Mombourquette's response to a local health-care worker who received anti-vaccination propaganda in her mailbox. 

At 20:54, we hear from a representative from the newly-formed Tajikemeik Mi'kmaq Health Authority, Sharon Rudderham, who previously served as the director of the Eskasoni First Nation Health Centre for the previous two decades. Now overseeing the new organization as the first-ever Tajikemeik Director of Health Transformation, Rudderhman is hopeful that a recent donation of $9 million from the federal government will help her colleagues provide everything from Mi'kmaq translation services to an early-years program. 

Also on this week's TELILE 24/7:

41:30 - Isle Madame muniipal councillor Shawn Samson hopes Richmond Municipal Council and the provincial Department of Transportation and Public Works can join forces to help Arichat property owners deal with washouts and flooding from a rash of recent storms. 

51:02 - A Richmond County beekeeper urges the municipality to participate in "No Mow May" to help the bee population this coming spring.

And we wrap things up at 55:55 with bonus footage from last week's interview with CHCO-TV news director Vicki Hogarth, as Cooke's fellow Local Journalism Initiative plays the long-running TELILE 24/7 game "The Fast Five."