In recognition of National Nursing Student Week this week, North Island College (NIC) Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students would like to share the projects they have underway.
NIC BSN students and faculty are actively involved on committees that foster and contribute to community projects in the Comox Valley and Campbell River. Current projects on the go are organized by the Nursing Network, Global Learning Initiative and Visiting Scholar Event.
“The most important thing is to be involved in community,” explains Randi Levasseur, a second-year nursing student at NIC. “As a student, I feel like I’m able to do that on a more personal and meaningful level. Learning about the human spirit is critical. You can’t begin to heal someone unless you understand them and the community they come from.”
The Nursing Network is a student-led initiative that aims to bring BSN students together while supporting health-related causes in the community.
This group donated to the community of Kingcombe following their devastating 2010 floods and to the Canadian Cancer Society in 2011. The Nursing Network is currently raising funds to donate to the Perinatal Society in Campbell River.
In support of National Nursing Student Week, the Nursing Network will host a button campaign. There will be buttons available by donation at North Island College and various medical locations. Funds raised will be donated to the Campbell River Perinatal Society and will support the creation a safe maternity home for at-risk pregnant women.
The Global Learning Initiative (GLI) is a student- and faculty-led committee involving the BSN program, as well as students in the Human Service Worker program. The committee organizes monthly film nights to raise awareness of local and global issues.
On Nov. 21, the Global Learning Initiative will present Small Community, Big Heart, which involves a screening of the film Tribal Journeys, followed by a discussion about discovering holistic views on health and different cultures while living in a remote aboriginal community.
The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Stan Hagen Theatre on NIC’s Comox Valley Campus, and entry is by donation.
NIC’s Health and Human Services Division also hosts the annual Visiting Scholar event.
This year, they welcome Dr. Patricia Janssen of UBC, an associate professor, co-theme leader of Maternal-Child Health and director of the UBC Master of Public Health Program, who will present Population Approaches to Intimate Partner Violence: Bringing Community and Clinicians Together.
Following Dr. Janssen’s presentation, there will be a panel of knowledgeable persons to address their roles in our community with intimate partner violence. The panel includes representatives from the Comox Valley Transition Society, RCMP Domestic Violence Unit, Acute Care and Public Health.
This public event will take place this Thursday (Nov. 17) from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Stan Hagen Theatre.
“As a nursing student and eventually a nurse,” continues Levasseur, “you help one person, who in turn helps another person create a safe and meaningful life. That’s what matters.”
North Island College’s Comox Valley Campus is home to NIC's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. All four years of the program can be completed at the Comox Valley Campus, with practice experiences completed in the Comox Valley, Campbell River and other north Vancouver Island communities.
For more information about the Nursing Network, the Global Learning Initiative, the Visiting Scholar presentation or NIC’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, contact Betty Tate at betty.tate@nic.bc.ca.
To learn more about National Nursing Student Week, visit http://www.cnsa.ca/english/aboutus/nnsw.
— North Island College