Spring-Summer 2025

During Nursing Week each year, community newspapers across Ontario recognize and thank nurses.

On May 13, RNAO’s Sudbury Chapter attended a proclamation from Mayor Paul Lefebvre to declare National Nursing Week in Greater Sudbury.

On May 12, RNAO released its ECCO 4.0: Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians report, the blueprint for an equitable health system anchored in primary care and integrated community care. It calls for a faster shift from hospital-centric services to prevention-focused, people-centred care to better meet the needs of Ontarians.

RNAO member Navisha Weerasinghe, a clinical operations manager at Georgetown Hospital, says she has worked hard to advocate for a more inclusive and empowering environment for women working in health care.

RN Kylee Rogers says she was relieved when she got the call that her brother Zak had been arrested. She was unable to reach him for weeks and felt sure he would now be safe. Sadly, three days later her brother was dead. His cause of death in 2021 is still undetermined.

On June 5, 2025 the Ontario government shared news that it will  expand nursing education programs and include RN prescribing in the curriculum at Georgian College (Barrie), Humber Polytechnic (Toronto) and the University of Windsor. Accelerated RN programs will also be introduced at Conestoga College (Kitchener), St.

RN Mark Gravoso (right) and RNAO President NP Lhamo Dolkar (centre) visited CBC Radio’s Fresh Air to mark five years since COVID-19 arrived in Ontario. Gravoso, an internationally educated nurse (IEN), said the pandemic allowed him to enter the workforce quickly.

The Ontario government also announced on June 5, 2025, that licensed nurses and board-certified physicians from the U.S. who relocate to Ontario will face fewer obstacles to begin working in the province.

Nurses working with patients who experience pain have a new tool to draw on. RNAO has published a best practice guideline (BPG) called Pain: prevention, assessment and management (Fourth edition). It is one of 50+ BPGs in RNAO’s expansive library.