A nurse at Windsor's Huron Lodge has been named the recipient of the 17th annual R.N.A.O. Lois Fairley Nursing Award.
Anna Dudok has worked as a registered nurse at the long-term care home on Cabana Road since 1991, but has worked as a nurse since 1978.
The Lois Fairley Nursing Award recognizes a Windsor-Essex nurse or nurses who demonstrate a commitment to serving the community through excellence in delivering nursing care.
Dudok says the award is truly humbling.
"Usually, you expect these kinds of awards to go to nurses who work in critical care, or nurses who work in acute care hospitals. To recognize the long-term care facility is truly amazing," she says.
Dudok says being recognized by your peers is also an honour.
"To be sort of a role model and a mentor to them, and for them to appreciate that, not only my colleagues but all staff at Huron Lodge; it really means a lot," she says.
Dudok says when she first started, residents were walking into Huron Lodge on their own, but a lot has changed since then.
"Now we have residents who come in their wheelchairs and who come just for palliative care. The nursing care here has truly changed, it's becoming more chronic care and palliative care. It's really complex, the residents are coming with multiple health issues," she adds.
The annual award recipient is selected by members of the Fairley family and the Windsor-Essex chapter of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario from nominations received from the public.
Lois Fairley was a graduate of the Salvation Army Grace Hospital's nursing program in 1955. Lois spent her career serving patients at Grace Hospital in Windsor as a registered nurse and head nurse on various floors.
Fairley also served the nursing profession as a member of the Provincial Board of Directors of R.N.A.O., served as President of the Ontario Nurses Association (O.N.A.) and was a member of the St. Clair College Nursing Program Advisory Committee (P.A.C.).
Fairley passed away in 2007, and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (R.N.A.O.) instituted this award for Windsor Essex nurses in 2008.