September / October 2018

Former RNAO president David McNeil will become the president and new CEO for the Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS) on Dec. 10. For 17 years, he has been VP and chief nursing executive for Health Sciences North in Sudbury.

A new multimedia project called The Opioid Chapters is providing a platform for sharing the experiences of people affected by the opioid crisis in Ontario. Launched in September by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and Healthy Debate, the project highlights the human side of the crisis rather than focusing on statistics.

A short film by RNAO member Natania Abebe has won the Take5 Storytelling Contest, organized by a U.S.-based organization with ties to Lucasfilm in San Francisco. The contest was created in August to solicit stories on gender inequality, and efforts to bridge the gap between genders.

In August, RNAO was saddened to say goodbye to long-time member Joyce Shack. Well known in the nursing community, Shack was the recipient of RNAO’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 (formerly known as Honorary Life Member) and was actively involved with the Nursing Leadership Network of Ontario (NLN.ON), an interest group of RNAO.

RNAO nursing student Negin Feiz Arbabi is speaking out about how her studies at York University were interrupted by a five-month strike, which lasted from March 5 to July 25. The strike prevented her and her peers from completing 100 clinical hours in preparation for practice.