Windsor-Essex hospitals are celebrating National Nurses Week with events, awards and recognition.
“It wouldn’t have happened without my team,” says Melanie Vandewiel, a nurse practitioner at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) in withdrawal management.
Vandewiel is one of three nurses honored Thursday with the Jeanne Mance Extraordinary Nursing Care Award during an outdoor ceremony at the Tayfour Campus.
“There’s lots of praise out there for the work we do,” says Vandewiel.
She tells CTV News the pandemic was “challenging” for staff, and the people they help.
“We want less barriers when (people are) coming into withdrawal management,” says Vandewiel. “But since COVID, we’ve actually had to limit our capacity. We’ve actually had to decrease the community services and programs coming into withdrawal management to work with our clients.”
Vandewiel says at this point in the pandemic, they are almost back to full capacity, which she says is a relief.
Kristy McLean, who also works in withdrawal management, as a registered practical nurse was also honored by HDGH.
The third recipient is Jay Haroun, a registered nurse in complex medical care.
Milijana Radic received the Lori Dupont Bursary of $1,000 towards her Masters of Nursing education at the University of Windsor. Radic is a registered nurse at HDGH.
“Nurses’ Week is an important opportunity to celebrate the continued excellence, compassion, quality care, and heart our nurses exemplify,” says Janice Dawson, chief nursing executive at HDGH.
According to HDGH, Nurses Week is held at this time of year, to recognize the birth week of Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing.
Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH), honored seven nurses, across more than five separate departments. And they handed out four bursaries to nurses pursuing higher education.
Here is a list of recipients.
WRH also produced short videos highlighting different nurses across various departments, including pediatrics and the cancer centre.
“We want to thank and celebrate the dedication and efforts of not only these award recipients selected by their peers, but to all nurses across our hospital and indeed throughout our community,” chief nursing executive Karen Riddell says in a news release.
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