Lynda Balneaves (PhD '02)

Lynda came to UBC for her PhD because she loved the city of Vancouver, but more importantly, because the scholarly expertise she wanted was here. Both Drs. Sally Thorne and Joan Bottorff had expertise and active research programs in the area of cancer research. This was the field she had already worked in during her MN and what she wanted to pursue academically, with a specific focus on the role of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in cancer care.

Lynda is passionate about research because she “loves asking questions, exploring the unknown, and because every day in research is different - you are always creating new knowledge, you have autonomy, and you get to follow your interests!” ...read more.

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Jean Barry (MSN '02)

In Jean's own words, she made the best decision of her career when she decided to return to university to complete her Masters and applied for and was accepted into the UBC program. The program opened her eyes to the broader health policy issue and introduced a global way of thinking. She was inspired by fellow students and their questioning minds and by the dynamic dialogue and interaction between the professors and students in her classes. ...read more.

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Aaron Bates (BSN '08)

Aaron Bates (BSN '08), applied to the UBC BSN program from Guatemala. As the country representative for Pueblo Partisans - a small Vancouver Island-based non-governmental organization - he designed a community development strategy for a displaced indigenous population and provided cultural interpretation, leadership and Spanish-English interpretation for visiting nurses doing clinical training there. His decision to become a nurse developed from those experiences.

"I provided translations of traumas and the rudimentary framework to understand the context of an individual's particular pains, yet it was the nurses who were able to make these patients feel better by providing some physical relief," he recalls. "I wished to integrate my experiences in Guatemala and translate them into meaningful social action. I could think of no better way of doing so than by dedicating myself to a career in nursing." ...read more.

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Jacalyn Brown (BSN '01)

Jacalyn Brown (BSN ’01) age 37, lives in Burnaby B.C. and is a Registered Nurse in the Cardiac Care Unit at St. Paul’s Hospital. She has been curling for 15 years and loves both the competition aspect of the sport, and her team. She plays Lead for Team Mallatt. Her career highlight was winning her first B.C. women’s title.

On February 28th, 2009, Team Mallet represented British Columbia in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts – the Canadian Women's Curling Championship. Leading the way through the competition, Brown’s team came second only to Team Canada, the defending Canadian and world championship team from Winnipeg. ...read more.

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Sue Carpenter (MSN '05)

"My interest in improving health care stems from my desire to really make a difference for patients and for the people who live in our community," says Sue.

"Sue has led Interior Health Emergency Services in directions that many individuals within the system thought were not possible," says Tom Fulton, Professional Practice Leader and Chief Nursing Officer, Interior Health Authority. "Our multiple and culturally varied emergency departments have been drawn together to work collaboratively on system-wide approaches to unending challenges. Sue has been able to facilitate these diverse groups and support them in identifying common issues and solutions." ...read more.

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Allison Eller (BSN '04)

Upon starting nursing school, her intention was to eventually pursue work in public health, “I became very interested in acute medicine through my time in the program and worked my first year after graduating in acute medicine at VGH. I had a concurrent interest in maternal/newborn health, so had focused my avenues option in maternity.”

After working casually in acute medicine for a year, Alison started working casually in post partum at BC Women's for some time as well. The shift work was not a good fit, so she decided to pursue her interest in public health nursing sooner than she had anticipated. She moved to Raven Song Community Health Centre and has been working there with the Infant Child & Youth Team ever since.

One of Alison’s recent successes has been establishing a "Nurses on Bikes" program funded through Vancouver Coastal Health's Innovation Funds, which allows nurses to use their bikes for their work related contacts in the community. ...read more.

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Christine Fantuz (BSN '07)

During an international placement in Nepal with fellow graduate Julia Iwama, Christine was able to share information from her leadership and management course. "Julia and I didn't bring any notes with us from that class because we figured we wouldn't need them in Nepal, but there we were talking about change theory, organizational charts and transformational leadership because the hospital would soon renovate and expand."

One of Christine's long range plans is more international relief work -- to provide care in Third World countries to children, to orphans or to whomever is in need. "Wherever you go, people need health care," she said. And in Nepal, where the life expectancy is 48.9 years, Christine believes they could also benefit from education. "I really believe that education is the root to making a difference," she said. ...read more.

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Amanda (Mandy) Hengeveld (BSN '06)

On one of her projects, a teammate became trapped under a fallen coconut tree. “We were in a very remote area and I was the most trained person there with any medical background” says Mandy, “but all I had were my lifeguarding skills.” She decided then and there that she needed to increase her medical knowledge, and decided to pursue a career nursing.

In April, 2010, her passion for global issues was again put into action when she travelled to Haiti to assist with the relief efforts following a devastating earthquake. “When the earthquake hit Haiti, I knew I needed to be there. It has been in my blood, and part of the reason I wanted to pursue nursing in the first place.” ...read more.

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Bernard (Barney) T. Hickey (MSN ’02)

Barney Hickey, RN, BSN, MSN, CPMHN(C) earned a diploma in nursing from the General Hospital School of Nursing in St. John’s, Nfld in 1982. He immediately moved west, taking up staff nurse positions on a psychogeriatric unit at Rosehaven Hospital in Camrose Alberta, an acute medicine unit at Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission, BC, the float pool and later the short stay psychiatric unit at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. In 1988, he took on a head nurse position at the Regional Psychiatric Centre of the Correctional Service of Canada in Abbotsford. After doing a one year position as registration officer at the Registered Nurses Association of BC in 1990-91, he went on to become patient care manager in psychiatry at St. Paul’s Hospital. In 1996, he completed his post-RN BSN degree at the University of Victoria, and in 1998 began work with the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation integrating progressive harm reduction policies into the Dr. Peter Centre's day health and residential programs. This included supervision of injections when the RNABC confirmed that supervision of injections is within the scope of registered nursing practice in order to prevent illness and promote health. In 2002, he completed his MSN at UBC School of Nursing, writing a major essay on “HIV/AIDS psychosocial issues: implications for nursing practice and leadership in Canada.” From 2005 to the present, he specialized in nursing education in a faculty position at Langara College. Along the way, he also gained National Certification from the Canadian Nurses Association in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. ...read more.

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Fuchsia Howard (MSN '04, PhD '10)

For Fuchsia Howard, nursing and health care have been a core part of who she is and her life’s direction since she was a young girl. Her choices may not have always seemed obvious, but her journey has caught the attention of many of her colleagues and friends and offers inspiration on a number of levels.

When she was about five years old, Fuchsia’s mother was in a car accident and suffered severe injuries that included a traumatic brain injury and quadriplegia. Her brain injury affected her such that she couldn’t eat or speak, and she had significant difficulties with her memory.

“It’s been challenging for me as a nurse, who believes very strongly in the rights of patients and honouring their perspectives, yet not seeing that be the case with my mother in some health care situations. But in a way being a nurse has really helped, and my mom’s situation was ultimately one of the reasons I went into nursing – I wanted to be informed and didn’t want to be on the outside of her care.” ...read more.

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