Healthcare is a broad field involving any activity for improving or maintaining people’s health. It is an essential service that allows people to get cured of illnesses, get healed from injuries, and get treatment for physical or mental impairments. It also includes caregiving services for the elderly and disabled population. The field is tremendously diverse, with a wide array of healthcare employers that provide jobs to thousands of healthcare workers in Ontario and across the country.
The reasons why people decide to pursue a career in healthcare or work for a determined healthcare employer vary from person to person, but oftentimes it happens due to a passion for helping others overcome health challenges and improving their lives. There is also a generalized sense of pride and honour attached to the field that makes it such a respectable and prestigious line of work.
It should be noted that there isn’t one single path to a career to get hired by a healthcare employer. How people get there depends very much on the exact role they are interested in and how much education they need for it. For instance, doctors usually go through 4-8 years of medical school and then enter a residency program that lasts 3-5 years; but for nurses, lab technicians, or physical therapists the path is much shorter.
Whichever path people choose, what matters is that there's something for everybody in healthcare, regardless of the interests or expectations they may have. The diversity of healthcare employers and services available to patients guarantees that healthcare workers will always find rewarding job opportunities that will fulfill their goals to contribute to society by helping others live their lives as healthy as possible.
If you are looking to start a career in this field or to further develop your current career, continue reading to find out all about healthcare employers in Ontario.
In Ontario, there are multiple types of healthcare facilities that offer their services to patients, such as specialty clinics, laboratories, dental clinics, blood banks, diagnostics clinics, and, of course, hospitals. The province has three different types of hospitals: public, private, and specialty psychiatric hospitals.
Another area of healthcare that doesn’t involve primary medical care but plays an essential role in the overall field is caregiving. Healthcare employers in this section of the industry, such as nursing homes, long-term care homes, and retirement homes, provide their services to patients that need assistance for extended periods, ranging from months to years, depending on their particular situation.
Let’s look at each major type of healthcare employer individually:
Hospitals are healthcare facilities that “provide round-the-clock care to patients, including emergent, elective, specialized chronic care and rehabilitation. Hospitals work with other parts of the health care system to coordinate care to patients,” according to the government of Ontario.
Hospitals typically employ doctors, nurses, therapists, and personal support workers, as well as clerical staff, janitorial staff, and food service staff, but their staff list is usually very extensive and can include other healthcare workers like social workers.
Clinics are a type of facility that’s focused on outpatient services, which means patients go home after they receive medical care. Medical clinics usually have a specialty, like dentistry, ophthalmology, primary care (think Walk-in Clinics), dermatology, or physical therapy, and they can be operated publicly, privately, or by the government. They employ family physicians, specialized doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, physical therapists, registered dietitians, pharmacists, and social workers.
Clinics employ doctors, nurses, therapists, personal support workers, clerical staff, janitorial staff, food service staff, and other healthcare and healthcare-related workers.
Long-term care (LTC) facilities, sometimes called nursing homes, are "places where adults can live and receive help with most or all daily activities and access to 24-hour nursing and personal care," in the words of the government of Ontario. These are places where patients get "much more nursing and personal care here than you would typically receive in a retirement home or supportive housing."
LTC facilities usually employ personal support workers (PSWs), nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, recreational therapists, dieticians, and support staff such as dietary aides and resident support aides.
Retirement homes also called retirement residences or senior homes, are living communities where seniors in their 70s, 80s or 90s+ live independently or with some assistance of their choosing. Contrary to LTC residents, those who live in a retirement home don't usually need permanent care because their health is manageable and they can look after themselves for the most part. What these homes provide is a safe environment where they can interact with people in their same age group and live a full life.
Retirement homes employ caregivers like nurses and PSWs, as well as recreational therapists, healthcare aides, dietary aides, resident support aides, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and other types of staff like housekeepers and cooks.
Laboratories are facilities that provide diagnostic services like blood testing, X-rays, and more. They perform microscopic analyses of body fluids (like blood or urine) using advanced lab equipment to diagnose diseases and health conditions.
Labs and diagnostics clinics employ medical laboratory technologists, lab assistants, phlebotomists, pathologists, radiation technologists, physicians, and other support roles.
Blood banks are places where blood is collected from donors and stored before it is used for transfusions. These facilities also separate and test blood to make sure it is in optimum condition for the moment a patient needs it.
Blood banks employ medical laboratory technologists, lab assistants, nurses, and phlebotomists (specialists in drawing blood from veins for donations, transfusions, and other reasons), but they also rely on donors, partners, and volunteers.
Public health units are official health agencies established by a group of urban and rural municipalities "to provide a more efficient community health program, carried out by full-time, specially qualified staff,” as indicated by Ontario's government.
These units employ physicians, health educators, social workers, and other healthcare workers.
Home care agencies are companies that employ caregivers such as PSWs to visit patients in their own homes and offer them healthcare-related services. This service is an alternative to long-term care homes or retirement homes, giving patients the opportunity to stay at home, in their own spaces where they feel more comfortable, while still receiving the health care that they need to live their lives and perform their daily activities.
Home care agencies employ home care aides, nurses, all types of therapists (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, recreational therapists and others), as well as dietitians, physicians, and other healthcare specialists.
Community Health Centres (CHCs) are organizations where individuals, families, and communities can access primary health and health promotion programs.
CHCs employ social workers, counsellors, health educators, program assistants, facilitators, advocates, and healthcare workers in general.
These are just some of the multiple types of healthcare employers where healthcare workers can find jobs in Ontario. As the field continues changing and evolving to meet patients’ demands and expectations, new types of facilities emerge, opening even more possibilities for recent graduates that want to break into the industry.
Today there are more and more healthcare employers where healthcare workers can find jobs, such as birth centres, ambulatory surgical centres, diabetes education centres, dialysis centres, imaging and radiology centres, mental health and addiction treatment centres, rehabilitation centres, urgent care clinics, and telehealth, which has gained lots of popularity in the past months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for people to remain socially distant whenever possible.
At Caring Support we offer a job matching platform where healthcare workers can access job postings from healthcare employers like the ones mentioned in this article in one single place, simplifying their job search significantly. If you are a caregiver or any other type of healthcare worker, you can create a free account today.
In the meantime, tell us, did we miss any healthcare employers? In what other places do you think healthcare workers can look for employment? Let us know in the comment section below!
We'll keep you updated on all new application updates and features!