During National Nursing Week, May 6 to 12, Langara College highlighted Sophie Mack, a nurse in the Bella Coola Valley who attended the college’s nursing program, graduating in 2009.
“I grew up here in this small little town on reserve. And I saw the inconsistencies in our healthcare system. You know, we never had consistent doctors or consistent nurses,” Mack stated in the Langara news release. “They were all travelling medical professionals.”
Mack said she wanted a career in healthcare that would allow her to return home and provide that consistency and stability in services for her community.
Mack has worked as a public health nurse in Bella Coola, spearheading communicable disease control programs, assisting with immunizations, and providing healthcare education.
The bursaries and support she received as a student now, in turn, support an entire community, noted the release.
Langara College has launched a fundraising campaign to coincide with National Nursing Week, to empowering tomorrow’s nurses.
It will run throughout the month of May 2024 and will raise financial support for nursing students and upgrade equipment in the nursing simulation lab.
“The process of learning to be a nurse is intense, challenging and time consuming. Many students, who will become wonderful nurses, do not have the time and energy to work during school,” saidDr. Wanda Pierson, division chair in the Faculty of Nursing in the news release. “Bursaries can have a profound and influential effect for a student providing them with financial support when it is most needed.”
The college will double the impact of the fundraiser by matching donations up to $50,000. These funds will help nursing students complete their degree and be job-ready upon graduation.
Throughout May, Langara College nurses and grads such a Mack will be highlighted on Langara social media, including local, international and Indigenous alumni.
With files from Langara College
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