By: Kirsten Millar
For years, Eastern Passage was the only constituency with no primary care services.
“If you need to travel to Cole Harbour to see a physician, it’s an hour and a half bus ride one way,” said Barbara Adams, Eastern Passage MLA. But that changed when Erin Sarrazin joined the community.
Erin Sarrazin: Coming back home
Sarrazin has been a Registered Nurse (RN) for 20 years and a Nurse Practitioner (NP) for eight. Before becoming an NP, she worked as a travel nurse in the United States and then full-time in critical care while completing a Master of Nursing in Health Policy before she went on to complete her NP education post masters.
After growing up in Nova Scotia and spending her teenage years in the Cole Harbour area, Sarrazin spent the first few years of her NP career working at military bases in Alberta and Ontario. But in 2019, an opportunity arose to come back home.
“I come from a military family. Then, a job came up in Eastern Passage, which is predominantly military families and veterans,” said Sarrazin. “My parents had retired here, and they were living close by, so everything pointed to going home. I had been holding out for a job here for a while.”
Sarrazin’s master’s degree and 12 years of experience working as an RN prepared her to become an NP. “I think it made my transition to practice easier and it makes working easier, as opposed to only having a couple of years of experience under your belt.”
Sarrazin loves being an NP because of the patients she gets to help.
“I think it always goes back to the people. It's definitely a challenge. And many days, it can be really overwhelming, and burnout is real,” said Sarrazin. “But, sometimes you’ll get to that final appointment and a patient will say, ‘I just want you to know that you've changed my life.’”
“Or, you'll have a baby, and they're a cute patient and they're smiling at you. And you think, ‘this is why I do it, now I remember.’ So, it's always the people.”
Provincial investment into primary care
On May 11, the provincial government announced a $17 million investment into primary care clinics. This investment will include 60 new and strengthened clinics, which will create more opportunities for Nova Scotians to connect to critical primary care.
One of those primary care facilities is the Eastern Passage Family Practice. Not only will the area be getting a larger facility, but their team of care providers is also expanding to include a new NP, and hopefully a physician and mental health specialist, to create a truly collaborative health clinic.
Jessica Myers: The newest member of the team in Eastern Passage
The new NP, Jessica Myers, joined the clinic on May 1, and has been a RN for over 10 years. She started her nursing career in the emergency department at the Cobequid Community Health Centre, where she remained for eight years before transitioning to primary care. She completed her family practice nurse education through Nova Scotia Health and took a position at the Dartmouth Medical Centre. Here, she worked as part of a collaborative practice team, providing care to members of the community.
While working as a family practice nurse, she completed her Nurse Practitioner education and graduated from Athabasca University in December 2022.
“When I first graduated, I was working in integrated chronic care, which was a lovely experience, but I knew that I wanted to be in primary care. It was important to me to be able to provide care to patients across a continuum, as opposed to episodic intervention. I think that an important aspect of primary care is getting to know your patients and having that continuity of care. So, when I saw the position in Eastern Passage, I thought this would be a great opportunity to do just that” said Myers.
“I love being a nurse, because I am able to help people,” said Myers. “In emergency care, patients are coming to you in crisis. I really want to be part of preventing that progression of illness or disease that leads people to needing the emergency department for things that can be managed in primary care. Being able to see patients on a regular basis and supporting them in their health care needs will hopefully increase their health and wellness overall.”
“As Nurse Practitioners, we are primary care providers. We can assess, diagnose, and manage a wide range of health problems. With our nursing background, we are trained to take a more holistic approach to healthcare, including health promotion and disease prevention strategies,” said Myers.
A growing clinic
Sarrazin is very excited to have Myers join the clinic. “Working alone is always challenging,” she said. “I have a great admin now. And then having a second NP means I can actually focus on patients and focus on: ‘okay, these are my strengths, these are your strengths, how can we work together to offer the best care to the patients?’”
“Although we'll both have our own rosters, we'll cover for each other when we're on vacation and things like that. If I urgently needed one of my patients to be seen, I could coordinate ahead of time with Jessica. And just to have somebody else to talk to. Just to have a colleague,” said Sarrazin.
Sarrazin and Myers agree that a collaborative health clinic will benefit their patients and their community.
“We’re going to be offering more services,” said Sarrazin. “This clinic started with me as the only provider in 2019 – the goal was to grow, with future plans to add a mental health provider and a physician.”
“We'll be our own little kind of clinic,” said Sarrazin. “Having one clinic where patients can get access to multiple providers is really helpful.”
A sentiment that Myers agrees with. “People are able to get in quicker and have easier access to care.”
“There’s nothing more important to my community than this,” said Adams. “The new centre is a big deal because we can actively recruit a new physician to come work in a new, beautiful space.”
