On May 12, 2010 we participated in a celebration of Nurses Week with the Gerontological Nursing Association.
We had a diverse audience made up of Nursing Students, Nurses in active practice as well as several honoured guests, now living at the Belmont Nursing Home, who were retired Nurses. Talk about perspective!
The most experienced of the group reminisced about the days when flight attendants had to be Registered Nurses and the newest of the group, were a group of Nursing students in their consolidation period but visiting Toronto from Finland.
We met for dinner and a presentation by Nurse and social justice advocate Cathy Crowe.
You may remember Cathy as a candidate in the recent Ontario by-election. She ran in the riding where George Smitherman gave up his seat in order to toss his hat into the mayoral ring. (Unfortunately her bid for a seat was not successful).
Cathy has an impressive resume. She has become known as the “street nurse” and in addition to providing frontline nursing care, works with her peers, meeting with various Ministers in efforts to promote social justice – particularly around the issues of housing, medical care and nutrition for the poor. Also to her credit, she is an author and a documentary film maker.
Cathy spends her working days facing difficult situations but remains a positive, enthusiastic, practical and energetic professional.
What a perfect choice for a Nurse colleague to honor during Nurses Week.
Lisa
