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Bursary

Happy Nursing Week!

Dear Friend of RNFBC,

As we approach National Nursing Week 2023, the theme Our Nurses Our Future, could not be more appropriate. This embodies our approach as we strive to financially support students enrolled in diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate education. The generosity of our donors has meant that we have been able to award hundreds of bursaries annually. Like many organizations our investment income is down this past year and we are challenged to sustain the same number of bursaries as in the past; ironically this is at a time when the nursing shortage means more financial support is needed than ever before.

Priorities set for two years:

While there are many nursing priorities that arise in today’s challenged health care system, after much discussion, the RNFBC Board has identified two key areas for fundraising in 2023 and 2024:

1.    Support education to advance nursing practice in complex senior’s care; and
2.    Support Indigenous nurses in pre-licensure and post-graduate education.

We are calling on our donors, past award recipients, friends and family of recipients – our entire community to donate to the 2023 RNFBC Bursary Boost to help us continue this vital support to nursing. Together let’s make Our Nurses Our Future our reality.

Kind regards,
Pat Semeniuk, President RNFBC

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Goal: Public Health Nursing

I am writing to express my immense gratitude for the financial support that you have provided to me through the St. Joseph’s School of Nursing Alumnae Bursary. I was thrilled when I learned I had been chosen for this bursary for the fourth year in a row. I am truly and utterly grateful.

I am currently in my fourth and final year of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Vancouver Island University and am about to start my final preceptorship. I will be practicing at the Ts’ewulhtun Health Centre in the Cowichan Valley in order to pursue my strong passion for Public Health Nursing and empowering people in my hometown to live healthy lives.

I am proud to be following my grandma’s footsteps and starting my nursing journey exactly 60 years after she did. My grandma (Anita McDonald) has influenced me throughout my entire life and has taught me to persevere when facing adversity. I am beyond proud to be taking after her and to be continuing her legacy. As I prepare for my graduation and pinning ceremony, I reflect on how meaningful it is for me to follow my grandma and become an RN. I was given her St. Joseph’s Nursing School graduation pin and she intends to place it on me during my own pinning ceremony. I cannot begin to express how much of an honour it is to be continuing her legacy and carrying on the St. Joseph’s name.

The pandemic has made nursing school an even more difficult process than it already is and has caused a lot of financial stress. The funds from this bursary have helped me immensely by providing some peace of mind, allowing me to focus on my studies. This has brought me one step closer to graduating and becoming an RN. Thank you again for your incredible generosity and support.

Sincerely,

Savanna McDonald

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Pay It Forward

Dear RNABC

I am a second year student in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna.! I am very grateful for the bursary provided through RNFBC.

Like many others, I have found it challenging to fund my education. This is even more difficult as a mature student, putting myself through school. Thank you very much for your generous #inancial support. It came at just the right time and really helped encourage me in my educational journey. I really appreciate your support in helping me reach my goal of becoming a nurse.! The nurses who founded this bursary have made me feel that I belong to a community of professionals who recognize the importance of nursing, and are willing to pay it forward to the next generation.!

Thank you again for creating the RNABC Educational Bursary.! I am very grateful for this gift.

Sincerely
Kevin Wittenberg

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My Goal is Nurse Informatics or Manager

My name is Angela Sunarjo. I am a first-year, second semester nursing student at the BCIT BSN program. I know that there are not many materials that I have learned yet, but so far, I have been enjoying the nursing clinical class. I like it because I am finally able to actually apply my nursing knowledge into practice and have real human interactions. At current moment, my end goal is to become either a nurse informatics or a nurse that focus in the management aspect of health care. My goal is shaped this way because have a previous background of majoring in business informatics for almost 2 years prior to nursing school.

The purpose of this letter is to express how grateful I am for the bursary provided through RNFBC. Like many other students, I find it a financial struggle to be a full-time student as I have to cut my work hours so that I can do well in school and give the best care for my patients during clinical. Receiving this bursary money is very helpful for me since now I can finally replace my five-year-old laptop that has a broken mic with a new one. Since the middle of this October, having a broken mic had created a barrier for me to learn optimally since it made me unable to participate easily during online class discussions. As Black Friday is coming up, I will try to find the best deal for a laptop and allocate the rest of the money to help lessen my nursing school tuition fee for the upcoming semester.

I am very grateful for this donation. Your donation has made me feel appreciated and supported as a student nurse. This motivates me even more to do better in nursing school and be more committed to learn how to be a good nurse for my patients. In the future, I will try my best to repay this kindness forward in order to help future student nurses.

Once again, I would like to express my gratitude for creating the RNABC Nursing Education Bursary. I am very grateful for this gift.

Sincerely,

Angela Sunarjo

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How My Bursary Helped

I am honoured to receive the Registered Nurses Foundation of BC Challenge Bursary for 2021. When I first started nursing school, I pictured myself going into emergency nursing, where the environment is fast-paced and exciting. However, during my third year, I did a clinical placement in the impoverished Downtown Eastside, where I saw first-hand the health disparities caused by unequal distribution of social determinants of health and oppressive social policies. I’ve been working there since, and although I love my job and the people I work with, I felt like I wasn’t making a difference. People were still dying to poisoned drugs, people were still being displaced from their homes, people were still falling through the gaps.

I applied for the Master of Public Health program at the University of British Columbia, with the ambition to learn how to enact change at a population level through health policies. Somewhere along the journey, I also discovered an interest in teaching. I want future nurses to think about health beyond the hospital walls, to think about societal and historical factors that can impact health. I think if we can do that, we will also be more kind and tolerant towards those who are marginalized.

I am truly grateful for this opportunity. Your donation will help me finish my master program, which will prepare me to be a strong advocate and leader for our communities, as well as allow me to be an educator for future nurses. Thank you once again for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Conrad So

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Announcing RNFBC AGM

Hello to you – our valued and past members:

I am pleased to advise you that the date of our 2022 Annual General Meeting will be held on June 16, 2022 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm via Zoom.  Please mark your calendars!

All our active members and those who have perhaps forgotten to renew their 2022 membership are invited to hear about the changes and advances the Registered Nurses Foundation of BC has made over the last year and plans for the future.  As our valued members, your engagement and support of these changes is crucial to our sustainability as well.  Please confirm your attendance at administrator@rnfbc.ca.

As a reminder – you must be an active member to vote at the AGM.  So, thank you to those who have renewed their 2022 membership.  For those who have set the task aside and you do not have an active membership, you will not be allowed to vote so please renew your membership today or at the latest May 5, 2022, at www.rnfbc.ca/membership.  A detailed AGM package will be sent to all active members two weeks before the AGM so you will have all the information you will need to vote on a number of items on the agenda along with the details for your attendance via Zoom.

I look forward to seeing all your faces on Zoom!

Diane Clements
President
Registered Nurses Foundation of BC
9 Foxw2ood Drive | Port Moody | BC | V3H 4X3

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