Angela Cooper Brathwaite

It has been a privilege and an honour serving as RNAO’s president for the past two years. When I assumed the role back in 2018, RNAO had 41,000 members. Today, there are 43,408. Leading from the boardroom has been a joyous experience. As we continue to celebrate the Year of the Nurse, I would like to share some highlights during my presidency.

My greatest satisfaction comes from connecting with so many of you during various fall tour events, assembly meetings, annual general meetings, and during activities such as Take Your MPP To Work, Queen’s Park on the Road and Queen’s Park Day.

Our political action events provide amazing opportunities to engage our MPPs in policy advocacy, to strengthen our relationships with our elected representatives, and to follow up on previous discussions.

Together, we have raised issues such as the importance of RNs and NPs working to their full scope, including ensuring RNs continue to initiate psychotherapy without an order, and authorizing NPs to prescribe controlled substances. These are just two examples of where our hard-fought advocacy triumphed for the benefit of Ontarians. And that advocacy continues because we know the value of RN and NP care. We know how our knowledge, skills and competencies should be realized in every setting of the health system. This includes RN prescribing and making sure we have adequate numbers of RNs and NPs to meet people’s needs. We also continue to hold politicians’ feet to the fire over the opioid crisis because we know that people with addiction challenges require ready access to health and supportive services.

I want to make specific mention of this year’s Take Your MPP To Work events, since these visits were done virtually given COVID-19. We engaged top provincial and federal politicians such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton, NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, former interim Liberal leader John Fraser, and a host of other MPPs.

I am so proud to be a Black woman and to have been president of an organization that truly believes we need to be a driver of positive and sustained change. RNAO will continue to speak out against racism and its manifestations in nursing, health and health care and for that I am truly grateful.

COVID-19 brought significant policy issues to light, including the shortage of personal protective equipment, testing, and the tragedy we’ve witnessed in long-term care (LTC). RNAO flagged issues in this sector long ago. However, government inaction and the rapid spread of the infection exacerbated the unbearable losses. It is shameful that more than 80 per cent of those who died from the virus were nursing home residents. So many lives lost needlessly.

This is why we want LTC homes to be included in Ontario Health Teams so they are part of a more fulsome health system. That recommendation, along with numerous others, was included in another important highlight of the past year – the release of Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians (ECCO) 3.0. I had the privilege of being part of its release during a Nursing Week media conference with RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun. This landmark report highlights current weaknesses in our health system and provides a list of solutions that will help us build a better, and more integrated one – inclusive of robust community care and anchored in primary care.  

I am also proud of my contribution to RNAO’s ongoing governance by identifying the need to strengthen the criteria for selecting the president-elect. The initial steps of that process have been taken with 85 per cent of you in agreement when you participated in One member, one vote last year.

I have also been inspired by the thousands of people fighting against racism these last weeks and months. I am so proud to be a Black woman and to have been president of an organization that truly believes we need to be a driver of positive and sustained change. RNAO will continue to speak out against racism and its manifestations in nursing, health and health care and for that I am truly grateful. Other points of joy are the webinars I have given to RNAO members on the importance of Embracing Cultural Competence in the Workplace, as well as the keynote address I delivered, titled Cross Cultural Adaptation: From one Country to Another, during CARE’s Internationally Educated Nurses graduation.

I cannot begin to express my thankfulness for the role nurses have played in every corner of the world and here at home during COVID-19. It is a health emergency of unprecedented proportion. You have faced your fears, and shown resiliency and commitment. I continue to be energized and inspired by all of you.

In closing, I want to thank former president Vanessa Burkoski for helping me when I transitioned into the president role. And, of course, our courageous, visionary and transformative CEO Doris Grinspun. I also want to thank my fellow board members for your contributions, and welcome our new President Morgan Hoffarth. I look forward to our continued work together. Our collective voices as RNAO members have made us stronger than ever. United we stand and divided we fall.