sinurt

Well we have been here over 3 months already and although we really like the place and have made some great friends we have encountered some major issues already that it is making us question our decision about moving here.

First of all jobs - although I have a job (came on a TWP) and I love my job my husband has really struggled to find decent work. It's not like there are no jobs but it seems to be more "who you know" here rather than can u do the job. Anyway he finally got a job although it is very heavy lifting and pretty sh*t work so he is still looking out for something else .

Also having a major problem with finding doctors and the health care. There is a huge waiting list for doctors here and although there are walk in clinics for after hours they are unpredictable (one was shut last night at 8 and the other was full, despite there being 1 person in waiting room). We tried taking our 2 yr old to one last night as we really wanted a second opinion from a doctor and ended up going to the emergency room at the hospital, where we waited and waited and finally gave up as not one person had moved (one guy had been there 4 hrs already)!!!

So I was just wondering if these are common problems that people have encountered all across Canada or is it just here (Fredericton NB) ?

Danny B

Doctors are pretty rare & waiting lists are long here in Kamloops, BC.

I cannot comment about the work situation as I found it pretty easy to secure a job, maybe I was just lucky?

Nicola N-A

So sorry to hear of your troubles. We had heard about how hard it was to get a GP before we came out. This bothered me as I have 3 children, the youngest was only 11 months when we moved over. We were lucky enough to have someone refer us to their own GP and we got in that way.

As for work, I totally agree that it does seem to be who you know out here. My hubby is on a twp and I am home with the children, so it doesn't effect us directly. I do have friends here on pr who have had trouble finding work and were getting ready to pack up and leave. Fortunately they both found work, but only after both having had really 'naff' jobs for about 6 months.

I really hope things turn around for you soon - sending you best wishes and good luck to you and yours.

iaink

Three months isnt long. You are right about word of mouth for jobs, and that takes time, I am an immigrant and to be honest I would think twice about taking on a newcomer who hadnt made through a winter yet. Hang in there.

Outside of the major cities, GPs are in short supply, its another thing that just takes a long times, you might get lucky, all you can do is get on as many waiting lists as possible and keep an ear to the ground about new doctors coming to the area. Its one area our city has been very proactive in recruiting. In some respect thats another case of "who you know" Our first GP took us on after a recommendation from an acquaintance. He was a complete arse, but thats another story....

We have taken kids to emerg in the past. Im assuming you were at least triaged? If they were concerned, action would have been taken. If you gave up waiting, then that tells a tail in itself. Its frustrating, but they have to prioritise resources as Im sure you can appreciate

If those are your only complaints, then things cant be too bad eh!

Danny B

Are you serious?
Health and work are probably the biggest things that make or break new immigrants to Canada.

Tangram

That and poutine.

DOBBIE

Like that also over here in the West. There are long waiting lists for doctors etc...we also managed to get in through a Canadian friend who recommended us to her GP. Maybe that's not a bad policy for yourself and family? Get to know a Canadian and then hassle them until they ask their doctor!!!

With the current world shortage on skilled labour and with the baby boomers about to retire then networking and word of mouth is the way to get positions anywhere. Employers are reluctant to go to the general market because they know there is very few people out there able to do the job. They rely on Joe Bloggs down the corridor who knows someone. This is not a Canadian problem but a global one, it's happening here, Europe, US, Oz, etc...
You need to try and mix with your peers, whether that be through coffee mornings to professional get togethers and get in their faces. That way when an employer asks "do you know anyone" to a fellow employee then your name pops up......

I trust this helps?

Cheers

DOBBIE

Homegrown

Re: Decent jobs in Fredricton.

The downside of moving to a small town/small economy is the lack of employment opportunities. The best place for entry level opportunity these days is Northeran Alberta or Sask. where anyone can get something at high wages if you don't mind roughing it in a frontier atmosphere.

If you want to stay on the East Coast then I would suggest the Halifax area. It's not exactly a booming metropolis but it's big enough to offer at least some
diversity of options in employment opportunity and economic growth here
is fairly strong. June statistics show 10,000 new jobs created in Alberta with
NS coming in 2nd at 6200 new jobs. That's a very good number considering
many provinces shed jobs.

AND you don't need to be bilingual to get jobs here (except for Fed. Gov't)

BristolUK

We're not far from you. A lot of jobs here are in call centres. There do seem to plenty of decent ones on the job bank site depending on what you're used to.

Yes, it's a very long wait for a family doctor on the Orphan List. But you don't have to wait for that though. You could ask if someone will take you. That's how I got mine. It obviously helped that my wife was already registered there, but I'm wondering if you could, say, try to get just one of you registered.

Maybe a doctor would agree to take just one on? Then try the rest of you later?

While I was sitting in the waiting room at our doctor, I overheard the receptionist telling a telephone caller that they didn't normally take on "new patients like this but...." and then she made an appointment for the caller to see the doc. So it is possible to get your foot in the door, so to speak.

I think you may have just been unlucky at the hospital. They're very quick at the Moncton Hospital. Helpful too.

One of our kids was on a prescription in Quebec. We knew there would be a delay in things when we moved and we had to tell the Quebec pharmacy that we were 'going away' so they'd give 3 months worth to tide us over.

Although we had access to the 'walk-in' service in NB they wouldn't get Quebec records for a patient not registered, so they wouldn't set up a new prescription.

We had to get around this by going to A+E. They handled everything including contacting a doctor (elsewhere) who would arrange the prescription because of that hospital referral and, thanks to that referral, there could then be a further, immediate, referral to a Paediatrician who would take him as a patient and request previous records. So that solved that problem.

Surrey Expat

Networking - This will get most things accomplished in the fullness of time. Being in a social groups is good for personal things like figuring out health care and schools, social gatherings etc as well as possibly finding work. If there is a specific field you work in then mixing with peers in that field, attending trade functions etc can help. Here in Chilliwack there is a free employment service http://www.cesbc.com/, we have successfully hired a number of our staff from them, Canadians and immigrants. There may be something like this in your area. From an employers perspective, we find the job ads to be less productive in terms of recruitment. Don't be shy, find places you would like to work and that utilise your skills, start dropping off resumes'.

Three months may seem like a long time, but it really is not enough time to assess whether you have made the right choice or not, it takes more like three years to figure this out, riding out the highs and lows until you are settled.

I have not found any particular cons to Canada that are not likely to be a problem elsewhere.

dbd33

Weather. Darkness. Months and months of winter.

sinurt

Exactly!! Especially when kids are involved. We ended up leaving the emergency room last night as our son was in good form and we thought we would see how he went overnight and if any problems arose we would take him back - thankfully he was a lot better today.

Thanks for all the advice everyone too, we do have a social group of friends here too so I will start bugging them all as well about doctors.

Also as far as jobs go my OH is networking and talking to everyone and I am doing the same asking people in work if they know anyone looking for staff. I just hope now that he has some "local" experience this might help him as well. I know 3 months isn't a long time, I think we are just finding it tougher as we are still trying to sell our house back in the uk which doesn't help things financially, it is currently rented though but still the money would help a lot!!

And Nicola thanks for the best wishes

Surrey Expat

Not been an issue for me. We get what we get.

dbd33

I believe it gets more weathery in NB.

diesel t dog

We are looking to move to Canada soon, and are concerned that you are saying there aren't a lot of doctors willing to take on new patients. We have a daughter that is diabetic and needs insulin injections and it is the thing that is worrying us the most about leaving the UK.


Has anyone found it difficult to transfer medical records to Canada so that they can get prescription medication over there?