HEALTHY PICTOU COUNTY LAUNCHES VIRTUAL REALITY 360º TOUR OF PICTOU COUNTY FOR PROSPECTIVE HEALTHCARE WORKERS
New Glasgow, NS – Prospective healthcare workers from all over the world can now take a look into the Aberdeen Hospital and visit the beach thanks to a new tool from Healthy Pictou County.
Healthy Pictou County, a physician-led grassroots effort focused on attraction and retention healthcare providers, worked with local company BRAEVR Media with funding through the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment to develop an innovative 360º video guiding viewers through local facilities and touring the community.
“It puts people in the driver’s seat to actually experience our community and meet some of our incredible healthcare workers, from anywhere in the world,” said Nicole LeBlanc, project navigator for Healthy Pictou County. “We always get feedback about how wonderful the people are here and this tool allows us to showcase what’s best about Pictou County, which is our people, and have people fully envision what their life can look like here too.”
The virtual reality video, hosted by Bahati Ernestine, a recent newcomer to Pictou County and nurse at the Aberdeen, allows users to immerse themselves in a narrated video featuring the Aberdeen Hospital, a collaborative practice, see the inside of an ambulance and also explore the community including live music, activity on the East River and of course, Melmerby Beach.
“The Merb sells itself,” said LeBlanc, who noted that it is a standard visit when touring prospective healthcare providers. “It always gets the ‘wow’ response and people can’t believe that’s our backyard and I always tell them, it can be yours too!”.
Healthy Pictou County secured funding through the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment’s Community Fund, and used a local video company, BRAEVR Media to film and prepare the videos. The videos can be loaded onto virtual reality headsets, and are also fully accessible on mobile and desktop through YouTube.
“These tools enable our community to help promote our opportunities in healthcare and what we have to offer,” said LeBlanc. “People often want to know how they can help, and many do, and this is just another way that is accessible to anyone wanting to help recruit and retain healthcare workers in Pictou County. All it takes sometimes is a share on social media or sending it to a friend to have them consider coming home or relocating to Pictou County.”
“We are proud to have partnered with Healthy Pictou County to bring the world a virtual taste of our beautiful community. Through this immersive 360º video, we enable prospective healthcare workers to step into Pictou County, meet our incredible healthcare heroes, and explore the essence of our picturesque surroundings. 360º storytelling is a powerful tool, allowing us to authentically capture the heartbeat of a community in a way traditional videos simply can’t. It provides viewers with a genuine, immersive experience, where they can look around, connect with our dedicated professionals, and understand the unique charm of our region. We hope it will help attract some new professionals to our region. We truly have a spectacular work-life balance here in Pictou County,” said Lydia Sayeau, Co-Founder and CEO of BRAEVR Media.
“We were thrilled to use a local company for this effort as they know the community, are very passionate about the work itself and also had amazing connections to utilize existing footage that other local organizations including the Pictou County Partnership, Tourism Nova Scotia and Coastal Nova Scotia graciously shared”, said LeBlanc.
Both the virtual reality and accompanying 2D video can be found on Healthy Pictou County’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@healthypictoucounty