About Me

Tagline

Live life to the fullest and appreciate everyone and everything along your journey!

Introduction

I am happily married to my best friend and soul-mate for 23 and a half years now and we have 2 beautiful grown children; Nicole 22 and Eric 20!  They are the loves of my life and I am so proud of both of their gentle, caring and curious characters!  I have also been blessed to have lived in several beautiful provinces across across Canada and am awed by each of the provinces unique beauty! My life has been and continues to be enriched by the many amazing friends who are a significant part of my life including my very dear friends and family back in Guelph Ontario!

Bragging rights

I have two amazing now grown up children that I am so incredibly proud of!

I have been fortunate to have had wonderful leadership opportunities in my work settings.  In 2012 I received the Fraser health "Above and Beyond" award for creating positive workplace.

I currently work in Fraser Health as a clinical manager of several integrated areas with in the Older Adult Program.  I am responsible for a 26 bed inpatient unit, a fairly large team of Regional Geriatric Nurse Clinicians and several other related projects with a combined portfolio of more than 65 health care workers/professionals.   

I graduated with a diploma in nursing in 1984, and after 17 years working as a Registered nurse, I returned to University to take my Bachelor of Nursing degree at the University of Lethbridge, graduating in 2003.

 In my work over the past 30 years, I have been provided many intriguing and interesting career opportunities. I started my career as a frontline staff nurse in the intensive cardiac unit and trauma unit and have personally experienced the physical demands of health care work. I spent 20 years working in various capacities in community nursing where the focus was on the importance of teaching patients self-care strategies and proactive preventative treatment management of chronic diseases. 

Further to that, over the past 10 years, I have had unique opportunities working in health care administration ( Clinical Management) positions. It is through these experiences, that I have come to appreciate the importance of not only implementing change management strategies to improve system outcomes through quality and safety initiatives, but also the importance of evaluating these change strategies on an ongoing basis and adjusting and modifying these strategies based on the evaluations.

 My work experience in the community has helped to ground my belief that self-care early on is vital to healthy aging, and that a key strategy for injury prevention and healing is to focus on what can be accomplished as opposed to focusing on what the limitations might be!  That has become my philosophy ... if you will.

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Why this Masters Program ( M.Ed HEAL)?

The HEAL Masters in Education Program resonates with me on both a personal and professional level. I have always had a core belief in the importance and value of incorporating fitness and healthy living into ones life; at one time, I completed my Fitness Instructor training and had planned to teach fitness classes until an injury made that no longer feasible.  
Recently, I have once again renewed my commitment to fitness and wellness and am working with a personal trainer and giving myself permission to grow and recharge and renew.

My primary goal in pursuing this Masters degree is to better understand how to design and evaluate programs to reduce incidence of staff injury. Unfortunately, with health care cutbacks and the challenges to meet very tight fiscal budgets, injury prevention programs such as these and other wellness programs are no longer accessible, or if they exist, they are only accessible in one format ( e.g. only in online web format). It would be interesting to develop programs that educate all staff utilizing multiple formats- learning about appropriate body mechanics for the physical demands of patient care, and the incorporation of strength and conditioning exercises to maintain optimal physical fitness. It would also be critical to evaluate the impact such programs may have on reducing injuries in the workplace. 

Staff workplace injuries and subsequent claims paid out to staff by Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) are growing, and the aging work force places increased financial strains on health benefit programs. We are not only living longer but also staying in the workforce longer – and in many cases often in physically demanding jobs. For example, older workers are particularly susceptible to soft tissue and joint injuries due to the physical demands of patient care. I think it is very important that we respond with effective strategies to deal with this changing workforce in order to foster healthy and safe work practices for older workers while at the same time reducing health care costs, . 
Ultimately, my goal would be to influence policies and procedures that govern workers in health care settings. 
 I am so excited to learn and take the time to reflect on best practice and to explore and challenge myself in these areas. 

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A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step -Lao-Tzu

Healin Reflections