Meet the Newcomers: Celebrating Healthcare Integration Through Community Collaboration
2025-07-07Meeting the Newcomers is a bilingual video series designed to foster awareness, empathy, and connection between newly arrived healthcare professionals and the rural communities of the Chaleur region. Released monthly, each short video features a healthcare worker sharing their story—their journey to the region, their motivation to serve, and their vision for building a life here. With subtitles in both French and English, the series ensures inclusive access for a broad audience and promotes intercultural understanding within the community.
This initiative is the result of a collaborative partnership between Imagine Chaleur, the Vitalité Health Network, La Cave Média, and the New Brunswick Department of Health, which provides funding support. Each partner plays a complementary role: the Vitalité Health Network facilitates access to healthcare professionals and internal coordination; Imagine Chaleur manages the project, distributes the content, and leads community outreach; La Cave Média produces the video content; and the Department of Health supports the initiative through targeted healthcare workforce retention funding.
The program addresses a critical challenge in rural areas: attracting and retaining skilled healthcare professionals while helping them integrate meaningfully into community life. Meeting the Newcomers helps bridge this gap by shining a light on the individuals behind the roles—humanizing healthcare workers and encouraging the public to see them as neighbours, colleagues, and engaged community members.
Since the project’s launch, the videos have been shared on the Imagine Chaleur Facebook page, generating views, shares, and comments. Feedback gathered indicates that the featured professionals feel more recognized, while some members of the public express a greater understanding of their journeys. The bilingual format has been particularly effective in reaching both Francophone and Anglophone audiences, supporting accessible communication in New Brunswick’s officially bilingual context.
This initiative illustrates the positive outcomes of intersectoral collaboration and shared responsibility. It reflects stronger coordination between partners, an inclusive approach to integration, and a meaningful contribution to the retention of healthcare professionals. The observable results—digital reach, community engagement, and testimonials—demonstrate how collaborative storytelling can support both regional economic development and essential public services.
View: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iOJDVE6Mk6gd_IylOQSBYZT4TWlbcN2H/view?usp=drive_link