More than 20 nurses at Surrey Memorial Hospital will be expanding their professional horizons this year, thanks to scholarships funded by individual donors and the TD Bank.
A Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation ceremony tribute to both donors and scholarship recipients, honouring “people who are bold and courageous and want to improve how they care for patients,” said foundation president and CEO Jane Adams.
TD Bank has donated $150,000 for 149 TD Nursing Education Scholarships at Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) over the past five years.
Steve Mo, District Vice-President of TD Commercial Banking, said his team also does an annual toy drive in December, delivering the toys to the SMH Pediatric Unit.
“Active involvement in the community is part of who we are,” he said.
Family members were present representing two specific bursaries, the Florence Martin Excellence in Nursing and the Terina Werry Excellence in Critical Care Nursing bursaries.
The Florence Martin Bursary is awarded annually to RNs working in Pediatrics who demonstrate the same passion and devotion to the profession that Martin did in her 30 years at SMH.
Leeann Taylor, manager of Child and Youth Services and this year’s recipient of the bursary, said she was also on the selection committee for the TD scholarships, “and what a privilege it was to read all of those applications. We have a lot of really talented people here.”
The bursary will fund Pediatric Emergency Assessment, Response and Stabilization (PEARS) training certification so that PEARS can be taught at SMH, Leeann explained.
“Our staff are thrilled and I’m thrilled. You can be sure the money will be leveraged to benefit as many of us as possible and to benefit the children in our care.”
Pediatric nursing will only increase in importance once the specialized 10-bed Pediatric Emergency within the new SMH Emergency opens on Oct. 1.
Pediatric Emergency is expected to handle 25,000 visits per year, up from the current 19,000 youth visits to Emergency annually.
The Terina Werry Bursary is awarded in memory of SMH’s first Nurse Practitioner in Cardiology.
One recipient is chosen annually, based on nomination by peers, for making a contribution to the advancement of critical care nursing and/or critical care education at SMH.
This year’s recipient, Jennifer Yeoman of the Intensive Care Unit, is in the process of earning her Master’s in Nursing Education, and hopes to eventually teach in a university Bachelor of Nursing program.
“Some of my co-workers knew Terina,” she said. “It’s good to hear about her.”
Yeoman added that it was especially touching to be nominated by her peers.
“Nursing is a demanding job, with lots of pressure from different sources,” explains Terina Werry’s widower, Kerry Werry. “It’s good that the bursary can reduce the financial pressure for nurses furthering their education and careers.”