Nurses across the country are being recognized this National Nursing Week for the role and contributions they make to the well-being of Canadians.
The recognition week brings attention to the profession and takes place during the birthday week of Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing.
On Wednesday, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) hosted its 2025 Nursing Awards Ceremony that honoured HDGH Nurses with the Jeanne Mance Extraordinary Nursing Award and the Lori Dupont Bursary.
Winners of the Jeanne Mance Extraordinary Nursing Care Award, which recognizes HDGH nurses who continually go above and beyond to provide compassionate and professional care to patients and exemplify teamwork, compassion, stewardship, and respect, included:
Whalen has been a nurse for 12 years and works in mental health and addictions.
"Obviously as nurses we don't do things for gratification, we do things because we want better healthcare outcomes for our patients, but to be recognized for going above and beyond and doing those types of things it makes me extremely proud," Whalen said.
Pare has been a nurse for 11 years and works in complex continuing care
She says it feels good to be recognized by her peers.
"It's wonderful actually, it's nice to hear all those kind words from your coworkers, we work very closely with each other every day and they make it wonderful to work for this organization," said Pare.
Shannon Landry, VP of Clinical Services, Restorative Care & Chief Nursing Executive says the theme this year was the power of nurses to transform health.
"That's really what we should be doing, and what we should be celebrating as a profession is that we have a lot of power to be able to transform our health system and work with our patients, and our families and it's just an amazing, I say calling, and a profession that I can't imagine doing anything else," Landry said.
The 2025 recipients of the annual Lori Dupont Bursary are Brooke Campoli, Registered Nurse and Shauna Carter, Nurse Practitioner.
The bursary assists with continuing education costs and each successful candidate is awarded up to $1,000.