Trent University Celebrates Excellence in the Field of Nursing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annual awards ceremony honours leading students, faculty, and mentors of the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, Peterborough

In honour of National Nursing Week, the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing celebrated the outstanding achievements of its students, faculty, and mentors during the annual Nursing Awards held at Trent University earlier today.

“Nurses Week is a time when we recognize the valuable and essential contributions made by nurses, every day, in every aspect of our lives. Today we recognized particularly the role of nursing students, as they prepare to move into practice, the critical role of RNs who precept those students as they move towards practice, and the excellence of nursing education delivered here at Trent,” said Wendy Fucile, interim director of the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing and the immediate past president of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO). “Underlining this triangle - the student, the educator, the practitioner - is the ongoing support of the local chapter of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario who, by their generous donation to our nursing scholarship fund, support all of us in working to ensure that professional, knowledge-based nursing care will be there when we need it.”

During the ceremony, five esteemed awards and scholarships were presented. A full list of awards and recipients is as follows:

Central East Community Care Access Centre (CECCAC) Prize – NEW
Awarded to: Andrew Clawson and Claire Hanlon
A new donation received this year to support the Central East Community Care Access Centre (CECCAC) Foundation Prize recognizes two outstanding senior nursing students who have demonstrated an active record of and ongoing commitment to volunteer or work experience in a variety of community-based settings. The inaugural recipients, Andrew Clawson and Claire Hanlon, were awarded $1,000 each.

Andrew Clawson, a fourth-year nursing student originally from Mississauga, is an active volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Society and, after graduating from Trent in June, hopes to find full-time employment in an emergency department within the Central East LHIN. In response to winning the award, Mr. Clawson said: “I was humbled. It felt really good for someone to look at what I have done for the community and appreciate it.”

Claire Hanlon, a third-year nursing student from Peterborough, is currently interested in community nursing as a career route and would like to complete her Masters in Nursing in the future. “To me, this award demonstrates my dedication to being involved in my community over that past few years,” she said.

Director’s Award for Excellence in Nursing Scholarship – NEW
Awarded to: Beryl Cable-Williams
Presented for the first time, the Director’s Award for Excellence in Nursing Scholarship recognizes a faculty member within the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing (SON) who has made an outstanding contribution to scholarship over the academic year and who has positively influenced the quality work environment within the School through excellence to the ongoing development not only of students but also of other faculty. The inaugural recipient, Beryl Cable-Williams, has been a faculty member with the SON since its inception. She is currently working on her Ph.D., focusing on quality of life at end of life in long-term care facilities. In response to being selected as the first winner of the Director’s Award, Ms. Cable-Williams said: “It must have been difficult for the committee to make a choice given that we are fortunate here to have so many faculty members who would also have been worthy to receive this award. I feel honoured to have been recognized in this way.”

Janet Bews Scholarship for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia
Awarded to: Stefanie O’Brien
The Janet Bews Scholarship in Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias, an endowed scholarship of $4,000, was presented to a third-year student Stefanie O’Brien, in recognition of her work and interest in nursing care for persons with dementing illness. Originally from Peterborough, Ms. O’Brien has worked as a personal support worker at St. Joseph’s at Fleming assisting residents living with dementia and Alzheimer’s and at Royal Gardens Retirement Home. Her goal is to open her own retirement home in the local area.

Nicholls/Civic Alumnae Prize
Awarded to: Tatiana Minifie
The Nicholls/Civic Alumnae Prize, a $500 awarded to a third or fourth-year nursing student who demonstrates excellence in nursing care through their clinical placement, was presented to Tatiana Minifie. Ms. Minifie is a third-year student who was nominated by her clinical advisors and preceptors at Riverview Manor and St. Joseph’s at Fleming.

The award was established by alumnae of the Nicholls/Civic Hospital Nursing school, which moved to Fleming College in 1973. At the awards ceremony, Bev MacDougall, president of the Nicholls/Civic Nursing Alumnae Association, presented Trent University with a $1,000 cheque raised by the Class of 1960 on the occasion of their 50th anniversary and in support of future nursing students.

Preceptor Recognition Award
Awarded to: Jackie Schumacher
The Preceptor Recognition Award is given to a nurse who has demonstrated excellence in supporting individual nursing students or groups of students as they progress to become novice nurses. The 2010 recipient, Jackie Schumacher, is a registered nurse at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby. She was nominated by fourth-year Nursing student Cheryl Prinzen.

The awards ceremony also featured keynote speaker, Doris Grinspun, executive director of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO), a professional association representing registered nurses in the province of Ontario. Ms. Grinspun spoke about leadership and how good values, knowledge and courage contribute to good leadership, especially in the Nursing profession. “Leading with values, knowledge and courage occurs at the bedside, street side and the home side – anywhere nurses and nursing students are,” she said.

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For more information, please contact:
Wendy Fucile, interim director, Trent/Fleming School of Nursing, 705-748-1011 ext. 7335 or wendyfucile@trentu.ca