#WeAnswerTheCall – a history of caring for Canadians
With a general public more appreciative of the efforts health-care workers make on a daily basis, the Canadian Nurses Association decided to launch a new mantra to coincide with National Nursing Week — #WeAnswerTheCall — to help show how integral nurses are — and always have been — to the Canadian fabric.
“The theme this year is #WeAnswerTheCall and was developed by CNA to reflect nurses’ commitment to respond to the needs of the Canadian health system, despite the personal risk involved,” explains Dr. Sylvain Brousseau, president of the Canadian Nurses Association. “It is not about being ‘called’ to nursing, but rather reflects the many roles nurses play in a patient’s health-care journey and the value they bring to health care.
“The objective of the week is to draw attention to nurses, increasing the awareness of the public, policymakers and governments of the many contributions of nursing to the wellbeing of Canadians. That is why it is important to celebrate National Nursing Week and create more awareness around the importance of Canadian nursing and its history.”
Dr. Brousseau pointed to some key nurses of note, of which the general public should be more aware:
• Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture: Born in 1890 in Six Nations of the Grand River, Ont., Monture was a Mohawk World War One veteran. She was the first Indigenous woman to become a registered nurse in Canada, as well as the first to gain the right to vote in a Canadian federal election. She was also the first Indigenous woman from Canada to serve in the United States military.
• Bernice Isobel Carnegie Redmon: Redmon attended nursing school in the United States because Canadian schools would not admit Black students. On her return to Canada in 1945, she became the first Black registered nurse to practise in public health, taking a job at the Nova Scotia Health Department in Sydney. She was also the first Black registered nurse to be hired by the Victorian Order of Nurses.
• Gwennyth Barton and Ruth Bailey: In 1948, Gwennyth Barton, from Halifax, and Ruth Bailey, from Toronto, became the first two Black women to graduate from a Canadian nursing school. Both attended Grace Maternity School of Nursing in Halifax.
• Rose Casper: In 1955, Rose Casper of the St’át’imc Nation, B.C., became the first Indigenous nurse in Western Canada. Casper worked in her home community of Shalalth as a nurse for over 50 years. To honour her legacy and service to her community, the Rose Casper Healing Centre was opened in Shalalth in 2003. The centre remains a fixture in the community, offering wellness services that are both traditional and contemporary. This content was funded, but not approved by the advertiser.