Last year’s Infusion saw about 400 Americans visit for the weekend. This year saw over 1,000. (Lauryn Mackenzie/ CHLY 101.7fm)

Hundreds of Americans once again came to visit the Harbour City this past weekend, but this time, many healthcare workers came to learn more about making Nanaimo their new home.

The second annual Nanaimo Infusion was held this past weekend where local Nanaimoites, Tod and Jocelyn Maffin, invited Americans through social media to visit and support the local economy of the city.

Last year’s Infusion saw about 400 Americans visit for the weekend. This year saw over 1,000.

New this year was a focus on healthcare workers visiting for the Infusion who are interested in moving from the USA to Canada.

On the first day of the Infusion, Friday April 24, Island Health hosted an open house at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital for interested healthcare workers to talk to recruiters about the many employment opportunities across Vancouver Island.

Hallways were packed with American visitors, Island Health staff and Americans who have already made the jump to Nanaimo.

“I saw a Tiktok of Tod Maffin shortly after the Nanaimo Infusion last year, inviting Americans that were looking for work up in Canada that he had a community and a website, and I put that in my back pocket because I was very interested,” said Kelli Portnoy. “I wasn't really sure if it was going to get weird enough in the U.S., but shortly thereafter, it sure did. So I started to investigate that process a little bit.”

On Saturday the Infusion held its annual “family photo” at the Nanaimo sign at Maffeo Sutton Park downtown Nanaimo. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

Kelli Portnoy is an American from Arizona who has recently moved to Nanaimo to work as a registered nurse for Island Health. She has been working and living in Nanaimo since January of this year.

“I didn't think that I would ever be in a position to emigrate out of the United States,” she said. “The way things have unfolded down there and escalated as quickly as they have, it made me realize that it was in my best interest to look at other options, and that Tiktok gave me an opportunity to consider an area that is absolutely stunningly gorgeous.”

Her first visit to Nanaimo was for a conference years ago, but Portnoy said it was because of Tod’s Tiktoks that she knew Nanaimo was the place for her.

“It's been a whirlwind of experience. It feels like I just got here, but also feels like I've been here forever,” she said. “At the same time, I have met so many other Americans that have made the jump and and I've met so many amazing Canadians that have helped support and just the community here is absolutely incredible.”

Rachael Smith-Taylor is also a registered nurse now working in the emergency room at NRGH

She has been working in Nanaimo since October after moving from Texas.

“Me and my partner are a same sex couple living in central Texas. We decided that when our kids were about grown–our last one is in grade 12–we were going to travel like a semi-retirement type thing,” Smith-Taylor said. “Work for six weeks, travel six weeks, do whatever. Pacific Northwest is where we were looking to go, then I came across Tod's Tiktok one night, and I'm like, ‘Oh, that's pretty Pacific Northwest.’”

Jocelyn Maffin speaking to the crowd on April 25 at Maffeo Sutton Park. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

Smith-Taylor said after seeing the social media posts, she surprised her wife with a trip up to Nanaimo for the Infusion in 2025.

She said she was first only interested in the Infusion as a way to support their Canadian counterparts, but once they got here, they opened up to the possibilities of moving.

“They found out we were medical, [my wife is] an ICU nurse, so we're both in healthcare. They gave us a tour of the hospital, and within a month, I had a job offer,” she said. “I was like ‘things just don't happen like that, so that was a sign from the universe.’ So I accepted.”

Currently Smith-Taylor is living in Nanaimo by herself, with plans for her wife to relocate to Nanaimo to work at the hospital in the fall. They’re just waiting for their youngest to settle into college down in the states.

“It's been hard because I don't have my family because I'm here alone, but it was like I was picked up and put into a beautiful family when I came to Nanaimo. Everyone has been so welcoming, just loving and supportive, and anything I could ever ask for or need someone's there to say, ‘hey, we got you. Let's do this,’” she said. “So I do have a great support system here, and without that, I don't know that I would have made it, but it's hard being without my family.”

Carlie Powell is director of recruitment services for Island Health. She said it’s been great hosting this open house and meeting all the interested Americans.

“There's so many people here that have travelled so far from the US, from across Canada,” Powell said. “They're here to gather information from the recruitment team about opportunities here with Island Health, some specifically for Nanaimo, but a lot are seeking opportunities throughout the region.”

Along with efforts by Tod and Jocelyn to bring in new healthcare professionals to Canada, both the Government of British Columbia and the local health authorities across the province have upped their game in their recruitment efforts.

Tod Maffin thanking all the Americans who came to visit and all the locals who came out to support. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

According to the provincial Ministry of Health, between March 2025 and February 2026, 141 U.S.-trained healthcare professionals started working at Island Health. This number is included in the over 500 healthcare workers who have started working across the province from the United States between the same dates.

“[The Americans] were just seeking new opportunities. They were seeking relocation. feel seen here. They feel welcome into the organization. They love the region. They're out hiking and doing different things than they would do back home,” Powell said. “We see people today from Nebraska, and they're looking at the trees in awe of the beauty in the neighbourhood. It's just neat to see it through their eyes.”

Powell said she has never seen such a boom in Americans coming to work in B.C. healthcare.

“It’s different efforts we're doing right now and Tod's grassroots event has been wonderful. It's truly been an event that we have seen a lot of benefit from,” she said. “We've had a lot of connections with those that are looking at opportunities down the road, that are seeking opportunities right now, and we're just very thankful to everybody that's made their ventures up to see us.”

While the Infusion and the open house was held in Nanaimo, Powell said their job at Island Health is to represent the whole region and bring awareness to all the opportunities across the Vancouver Island area.

“So we are here as an organization representing Island health as a whole. So we have opportunities all throughout the region, in North Vancouver Island, in South Island, of course, and in our western communities also,” Powell said. “We have lots of opportunities. There's different areas of geography that people may be interested in. It is really about bringing people their awareness and helping people find their place.”

On Saturday the Infusion held its annual “family photo” at the Nanaimo sign at Maffeo Sutton Park downtown Nanaimo.

Hundreds of Americans and locals gathered around the park, chatting about shared interests, their love for Canada and how they can support each other.

Brian Barrow, a retired healthcare professional, spoke with Americans about his own experience moving from the U.S.A (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

Brian Barrow, a retired healthcare professional who years prior had moved to Canada from the United States, was holding up a sign, encouraging Americans to ask him any questions about the process.

“I'm just here to be part of the joy and the excitement of the Infusion, and hope to get some more health care workers here on the island,” Barrow said. “My wife and I are retired healthcare workers that came to Canada from the U.S. in 2012 so we thought we might have a little informal advice for folks who have questions.”

Justin and Kirby Thomas are a couple with a big interest in moving to Nanaimo from Florida. Justin works in radiology and Kirby is a data scientist.

Justin said after hearing about the Infusion from his mother-in-law he was interested in coming to it this year to see what the job opportunities were like for healthcare workers on Vancouver Island.

“I've always had a very strong passion for people, but more importantly, there's a lot of for profit hospitals that I refuse to work for in the States,” Justin said. “I've lost several friends because of that, because I don't believe health care should be a thing that people have to struggle for. I believe it's a human right. So when I had the opportunity, I came up here, I went on the tour, and everyone has just been fantastic.”

Justin (left) and Kirby (right) have started the process of moving to Nanaimo from Florida. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

Kirby said the biggest contender for why they want to move is the political climate back home.

“It's very isolating and stressful, and I just feel like my nervous system honestly needs a break from everything that's going on,” Kirby said. “We have a daughter, and in Florida, they just passed an open carry law, and so pretty much guns are allowed to be everywhere. The number of mass shootings that happen in our country right now every single day is really weighing on me, and so we have to make a choice of where we are going to be safe.”

This was both their first time visiting Canada and Justin said trying a Nanaimo Bar has been one of his favourite things he has done.

“The parks are gorgeous. We've never seen mountains and the ocean at the same time,” Justin said. “Very fun to be around. Everything's gorgeous.”

Justin said even before visiting Nanaimo, they knew it was the place for them, so they are currently working through the process of moving to Canada. But with several federal government shutdowns in the United States, the process remains unclear when the family will be able to officially move to the harbour city.

In the meantime the two are enjoying their time in Nanaimo and are excited to see what comes next.

Christine Briggs (right ) with her friend Ramona Shires were visiting from Florida ahead of Briggs move to Nova Scotia. (Lauryn Mackenzie/ CHLY 101.7fm)

“To the fellow Canadians, thank you so much for showing us that there is that support across the border. We felt so isolated, and now we feel so not crazy that we wanted to come here and to be around people that know and understand our struggle,” Justin said. “To fellow Americans, even if you're like, maybe not, maybe not important to me. Just come visit. If nothing else, you're going to meet wonderful people and they're going to help restore your faith in humanity.”

Christine Briggs is also an American healthcare professional who is playing on moving to Canada to work in healthcare from Florida. While she and her husband are looking at moving to Nova Scotia, she and her husband and her friend still thought it would be a fun trip to come up for the Nanaimo Infusion.

Since the start of the Infusion, many other communities and provinces across the country have started their own Infusion. Briggs said it was because of social media posts of communities in Nova Scotia prompting themselves as great places for healthcare workers to move to, it has always been in the back of her mind.

“The pictures that I've seen are absolutely beautiful,” Briggs said. “My husband and I watched a video series called Canada Over the Edge, and the first season dealt with all the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia being the first one. So that kind of put the seed in the head that maybe we need to go look there.”

She said it's the political climate back home that has been a key factor for why her and her husband want to relocate.

Local MLAs, MPs, and the B.C. premier came out for the event to meet with American healthcare workers. (Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm)

“Well, obviously the geopolitical climate in Florida is to the point where I can't do it anymore. I sold my practice. I spend more time at my daughter's house in Massachusetts than I do in my home state,” Briggs said. “Tod said something very real that hit home; he said, ‘we were very happy that you're here, but we don't want you to just be running from, what are you running to?’ For me, that was Nova Scotia. When we got there, it was very much, ‘I'm home.’ So since I've had my birth home kind of taken away from me Nova Scotia said, ‘you're home.’”

Briggs said they have made several trips to Nova Scotia and they are now just waiting to receive her final written offer to make the move. She said, just like Nanaimo, the communities in Nova Scotia have been welcoming.

“When they found out I'm a nurse practitioner and I'm considering coming, one of the sweetest ladies I met in Nova Scotia has a little fish drive in, and I told her that I was considering coming there, and she's like, ‘oh, honey, please come here, because if you do, I'll feed you,’” she said. “It was just so kind. Everywhere I went, people befriended us, talked to us, walked right up and went, ‘you have U.S. plates on your car, do you need suggestions on where to go, where to eat, where to sight see?’”

To see more of the work Tod and Jocelyn Maffin have been doing to encourage more Americans to move to Nanaimo, you can visit their official Nanaimo Infusion website.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.