The Alumnae Association of the School of Nursing

A History of Giving Back Through Bursaries and Awards Over the Years

Throughout its history the Alumnae Association has stressed the importance of education and research in nursing and health care and has promoted the advancement of paediatric nursing excellence.  As our association was in the process of devolution, 2011 became the last year we provided bursaries as we had done in the past.  The Nursing Alumnae Endowment Fund administered through the SickKids Foundation now provides an annual award in the name of the Alumnae Association. (See below)

So in 2011, in the Alumnae Association’s final year, two $1500.00 bursaries were made available to all HSC School of Nursing graduates and to all SickKids nurses who had been employed at the hospital for more than one year. Each bursary supported a nurse who was completing a post graduate degree in the health care field. The call for applications was published in the spring Alumnae News and through hospital communication channels and the Bursaries and Grants Committee received 12 applications from excellent candidates.

The Hilda Rolstin Memorial Award honoured Hilda’s commitment and contribution to nursing education at SickKids over many, many years and the second bursary was named in memory of Barbara Fox, an honorary member of the Alumnae.  Barbara exhibited a passion for Family Centred Care and support of families and nursing in the north.

The top candidate and winner of the Hilda Rolstin Memorial Bursary for 2011 was Tharshini Sathasivam.  The winner of the Barbara Fox Memorial Bursary was Shelly Philip LaForest.

The Ruth Duncan McCamus Award was a peer nominated award supported by the Alumnae Association and the McCamus family and friends. This award honoured Ruth McCamus  who was a member of the Class of ‘59 and a SickKids nurse for 36 years. Ruth was instrumental in creating the Family Information Centre, now known as the About Kids Health Family Resource Centre.  She was a much loved nurse educator in the School of Nursing, and later at Ryerson University, where her passion for family centered care inspired many. Ruth was the first recipient of the Claus Wersig Humanitarian Award.

The Ruth Duncan McCamus Award was given annually during Nurses’ Week at the Nursing Excellence Awards ceremony for demonstrated excellence in family centered care and a commitment to paediatric nursing at SickKids. The recipient had to be enrolled in a post a post RN degree program.  In its final year this award was presented to Tara McKeown, a nurse in the haematology/oncology in-patient unit.   She was also the winner of the Barbara Fox Memorial Bursary in 2010.

HSC Nursing Alumnae Endowment Fund

A core group of the retiring Alumnae Executive worked for 6 years with HSC graduates and staff at the SickKids Foundation to craft the agreement we have today. The launch of the Endowment Fund in November 2012 saw the completion of their hard work.  Alumnae members, graduates, researchers, and SickKids Foundation and hospital staff gathered to celebrate.  Carolyn Hitchinson, President, addressed the guests on behalf of the Alumnae.  Judith Young, RN, MScN spoke on innovations in care over the first 100 years (1886-1975), all introduced at the hospital by nurses or had relied on nurses for their success.  Nursing innovations have continued, of course, in the years since 1975, but we were very proud to hear again how HSC nurses throughout the decades changed the way we care for children in our community and in the world.  Many of us studied and worked at SickKids in those years and led the way to change.

In Carolyn’s words, “Being conscious of the advancement of paediatric nursing practice, the Alumnae wanted to be a part of the future without losing sight of the past.”  With this in mind, the Nursing Endowment Fund serves the following purposes:

• Provide nurses with clinical, educational and research opportunities that develop the depth and breadth of nursing expertise at the hospital
• Assist the Hospital’s archives to collect, preserve and celebrate the history of nursing at the hospital.

To quote Pat Coulman, HSC graduate and Executive member, “The Nursing Endowment Fund celebrates over 100 years of the School of Nursing and the 2617 graduates who loved SickKids and were educated and trained in the art, science and spirit of nursing”

Each November since 2012 graduates have been invited by SickKids Foundation to attend an Endowment Fund event at the Hospital.  In this way we are thanked in a very concrete way for our contribution to nursing innovation at SickKids.  Anyone who would like to make their donation to SickKids directly to our Endowment Fund can use the link in the right hand column.

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