A town in western Newfoundland that didn't want a nurse practitioner two years ago is now eager to welcome a new one to its local clinic.

Not only that, the regional health authority says it's working to increase the number of nurse practitioners working in the area through a new program that could help pay for their training.

In 2015 St. George's had no doctor, and residents had to drive 25 minutes to the emergency room in Stephenville for even the most basic medical care.

St. George's had a medical clinic but no doctor when a nurse practitioner was recruited in 2015. (CBC)

When Western Health proposed a nurse practitioner for the town of 1,200, said Mayor Danny Conway, most people were not receptive.

"Seventy to 80 per cent of the people felt we don't want a nurse practitioner; we want a full-time doctor in our town," Conway told the Corner Brook Morning Show.

"I said, 'OK, we'll take this on an interim basis, and we'll keep fighting for a doctor.' And yes, we still want a doctor, but I can safely say that there's [now] a 98 per cent approval."

Best doctor town never had

In fact, when people found out that the nurse practitioner they've had for the past two years was leaving for a position at the Stephenville hospital, they were upset.

Don't knock it until you try it. - Danny Conway

But Conway said he has been reassured that the town will get a replacement, who will start work this fall.

"All I can say to any community that never experienced a nurse practitioner is don't knock it until you try it," he said.

Danny Conway is the mayor of St. George's in Western Newfoundland. (CBC/Bernice Hillier)

Conway said people now understand what nurse practitioners are and what they can do — they can diagnose and prescribe and can order many of the same tests that doctors do, with the exception of CT scans and MRIs.

In St. George's and the nearby village of Jeffrey's, they work in cooperation with family doctors at the hospital in Stephenville.

"The whole community has embraced the model that we have. They want to be able to see someone in the clinic," said Bev MacIsaac, the nurse practitioner in Jeffrey's.

"They don't identify with whether it's a physician or a nurse practitioner. They just know that they want the services close to home."

Bev MacIsaac was among the first nurse practitioners to graduate in Newfoundland and Labrador, back in 1998. She's now the nurse practitioner at the clinic in Jeffrey's in Bay St. George. (Submitted)

Made right here

The Western Health authority currently has 18 nurse practitioners working in the region, and there are four vacant positions.

"What we are recognizing is that the recruitment strategies we've had in place are really not achieving the results that we want," said Cindy Davis, vice-president of patient services.

They just want the services close to home. - Bev MacIsaac

Davis says part of the solution may be a new "grow your own" program the health authority initiated this past summer.

The authority is "essentially trying to identify nurses who work in the region who are from the region who are potentially interested in going back to school and becoming nurse practitioners," she said.

Western Health would actually select people for positions in specific towns, and possibly provide bursaries to help with the cost of education, with the understanding that candidates have to complete their training and pass a national exam.

Cindy Davis is vice-president of patient services with Western Health. (Submitted)

More than a dozen nurses are interested in that option in the Bay St. George region alone, and another three have come forward on the Northern Peninsula.

"What they talk about is their hometown and the joy of potentially working and providing service in the town that they grew up in, and how fulfilling it would be for them as nurses. And that's a win-win situation for us," said Davis.

"We can support their education endeavours and then link them to an actual position when they graduate so that they don't have to worry about a job."

Support from provincial association

"This is a situation where nurse practitioners shine and our scope is really utilized and seen as being beneficial to the community," said Ellisa Sinnicks-House, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurse Practitioner Association.

Sinnicks-House, a nurse practitioner in private practice in Corner Brook, says the approach by Western Health is a great way to recruit for the vacant positions, and might even entice some nurses who haven't taken the risk of furthering their education.

"There are nurses who are not availing of the additional training, for fear of not having work after," she said.