Without question Vanier produces excellent nurses.  2009 Nursing graduate Tiffany Pontes was one of the lucky few awarded a 2009-2010 scholarship from the Ordre régional des infirmières et infirmiers de Montréal/Laval (ORIIML).  The order awards eleven scholarships annually to students pursuing a Bachelor of Nursing degree.

The Vanier Nursing Program, designed for both men and women, provides the foundation to practice nursing immediately upon graduation or alternatively, to go on to the Integrated Nursing Program at McGill University leading to a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing after two years.

Vanier College offers the Extended Nursing Program option for those who wish to extend the regular 3-year Nursing Program to four years. The college collaborates with local hospitals offering Externship programs, potentially providing summer employment for nurses in training.

Nursing leads in success at prof exams 2009

Nursing leads in success at prof exams FR

Montreal, February 8, 2010

“Vanier Nursing teachers donated the textbooks,” indicates Melodie.  “There were personal texts, out-dated ones and desk-top copies sent by publishers for our perusal – all published within the past five years.  They covered nursing topics, such as Fundamentals of Nursing, Communication techniques for nurses, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry and Pharmacology. In all we sent nine boxes of nursing books.”

“We collected and packed all fall,” says Melodie.  “It was an amazing project that came together.” It took a dozen volunteers from various community groups six hours to load and fit the boxes into every available space in the container. In the end, 352 boxes including fifty computers, 30 bicycles, 3 wheel chairs, 7 sewing machines and much more were packed.

The container will take six to eight weeks to arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi, where Kamuzu College of Nursing is located. The idea of sending textbooks to Malawi started when Melodie and her Nursing Department colleague Michelina Catallozzi visited Kamuzu College in August 2009, and noticed how limited the resources were in the library.  Because books are heavy, shipping them is expensive, so Melodie and Michelina jumped at the opportunity to send textbooks when it presented itself.

Kamuzu College Principal, Dr. Address Malata, and Dean, Regina Msolomba, have already expressed their appreciation for the much needed books and have also accepted to visit Vanier this spring. Many events will take place during their visit including a nursing conference to be held at Vanier.

Vanier Nursing Department sends textbooks to Malawi ENG

Vanier Nursing Department sends textbooks to Malawi FR

First year Nursing teachers, Melodie Hicks and Michelina Catallozzi with Karim El-Sebai #93

Karim played football for the Laval Bulldogs and is currently playing for the Vanier Cheetahs. Standing at 6’2” and 260 lbs, this gentle giant is proving that athletics and nursing do mix.

Although he is excelling in a caring career, his opponents should expect no mercy on the field. Whether it’s as a member of the defensive line on the football team or as one of sixteen male students in his nursing class, Karim gives it his all.

The Cheetahs have done extremely well this season and it looks like they will be playing in the “Bol D’or in Sherbrooke on Nov.14th. And there’s no question but that when Number 93 steps onto the playing field, he may have his own rambunctious cheering section of Vanier Nursing students and teachers!

“Karim is very comfortable in his own skin,” says Nursing teacher Melodie Hicks, “and would like to encourage other young men to consider a career in Nursing.”

She goes on to say, “You know they practice until 10:30 at night out there on the field these cold, dark nights. I had no idea how dedicated these athletes were and what a commitment they had to make. I asked Karim when he had time to study and he said he takes advantage of every spare moment!”

That’s not only the kind of dedication you want in an athlete, it’s what you prize in a Nurse!

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Teaching Nursing is a big job. So how does Melodie Hicks manage to do all the things she does? She’s not only a nursing teacher, but also a wife, mother, fund raiser, and community health issues organizer. The answer would appear to be through boundless energy, passionate interest, a big heart, and sometimes by getting students, colleagues, family and friends involved in health-related community activities. And what are some of Melodie’s passions? HIV/AIDS awareness, treatment and fund raising, mosquito netting to prevent malaria in Africa, and nursing education at Vanier and internationally, to name but a few.

To see Melodie rushing through the halls of Vanier is to see her on the way to or from some life-giving activity – a class, a meeting, or an event – and always with a good-humoured smile, an intelligent purpose, and a commitment, that are inspiring to all around her. Students flock to her office for help of all kinds, knowing they will be welcomed. “Education for Melodie is more than memorizing facts and figures to regurgitate on a test,” indicates Rivka Guttman, Coordinator of the Nursing Department. “Education is about learning how to be a citizen of society. Melodie shows students, even with their limited education in nursing, how to care.”

One of Melodie’s latest passions is malaria prevention in Africa. To that end she organized a Buy-a-net Fundraising dinner at Case Grecque Restaurant in Pierrefonds to celebrate World Malaria Day and raise money and awareness for Malaria prevention. Eighty-three people attended the dinner and silent auction, which raised $5,000. This money will provide bed-nets for 15 villages in Uganda, protecting close to 4,000 people from malaria. Buy-A-Net is a non-profit organization run by volunteer Canadian nurses. It is endorsed by the Canadian Nursing Association and has representatives in all provinces across Canada. Melodie Hicks and Michelina Catallozzi, from the Vanier Nursing department, are the Quebec ambassadors for Buy-A-Net. Both were invited this spring, to Parliament Hill to attend a special reception on World Malaria Day, hosted by the speaker of the house for all Ambassadors of Buy-A-Net.

Closer to home Melodie’s other passion is HIV/AIDS awareness and fundraising. Every September, for the past fourteen years, she has inspired a group of students and staff members from Vanier to join her in the annual Fahra Foundation Walk for Life aimed at raising awareness and money for HIV and AIDS in Quebec. Over the years she has raised thousands of dollars for the foundation to support AIDS research. To learn more about AIDS, she joined a group of Vanier students and staff on a January 2008 mission to Malawi, to study firsthand the effects of HIV/AIDS on sub-Saharan Africa. Not content with being an observer, Melodie rolled up her nurse’s sleeves and started treating people in the village of Makupo where they were staying. Six weeks later, in early March 2008, she returned to Africa as a Vanier representative at the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, held in Uganda.

Never one to stay idle, Melodie is flying back to Malawi later this summer with Vanier Nursing colleague Michelina Cattalozzi, to provide training at the Kamuzu College of Nursing, at the University of Malawi, in Lilongwe.

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Rivka’s support extends to all who fall under her purview: she treats teachers and students with dignity and respect, encourages and fosters teacher creativity, constantly seeks out and promotes new and up-to-date nursing resources such as Infiressources – a bilingual resource for Quebec Nursing teachers, and encourages faculty members to expand their interests outside teaching through workshops, conferences or participation in events they care for. Taking a proactive approach, Rivka has made it a pleasure to be a “new teacher” in the Nursing Department, and has helped new arrivals with a detailed orientation manual of curriculum and practices, and provided them with a team-supported mentor.

Thanks to Rivka, Vanier Nursing has become known not only in city hospitals, but also in Montreal high schools, in Le Centre Hospitalier Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, and even in Makupo, Malawi. Rivka sought out participation in the McGill University Training and Human Resources Development Project which aims to improve access to English language health and social services in communities where healthcare institutions provide services mostly in French. As a result Nursing students have brought healthcare information to teenagers in east end English high schools. “Rivka also encouraged a faculty member and a student to pursue their interest in HIV/AIDS and join the Vanier Aids Action in Africa trip to Malawi,” says department colleague, Mechelina Thissen.

Always looking for ways to motivate students, Rivka inspired reflection amongst faculty and students when she collected personal nursing stories in From the Heart, a booklet published in 2007 that has been useful in recruiting new students, informing people about Vanier Nursing, and instilling pride in Vanier Nursing students and faculty. She has also encouraged students to participate in workshops on international nursing opportunities and expand their horizons.

Rivka Guttman’s influence extends beyond Vanier. When the short-staffed Montreal Children’s Hospital could not provide enough adequate supervision to accept nursing students in training, Rivka stepped in to find solutions that eventually allowed Vanier nursing students back in the hospital. Similarly, when nursing students reported difficulty understanding the poorly translated OIIQ examinations, Rivka wrote a strongly worded letter to the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec where she asserted the need for better translations, and offered suggestions to ensure accuracy and readability in the exams.

“I think Rivka is very proud to be a nurse, and she’s committed not only to Nursing, but to Vanier College as a whole,” concludes Melodie Hicks. “She really has gone beyond what’s expected of most coordinators, even taking on the teaching duties of faculty members at one point in order to lighten the workload of others. She is just amazingly creative and supportive.”

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Since the award was inaugurated five years ago, it is a Vanier graduate who has won it for the last four years. The selection committee criteria for choosing a winner are high academic standing and nursing experience; community involvement and accomplishments in school activities and associations, and in professional and regional organizations; and research and authorship of scientific articles, booklets, brochures, or pamphlets on health issues and nursing.

“It’s wonderful that Christine won this award,” says Rivka Guttman, Coordinator of the Vanier Nursing Program. “It puts Vanier on the map for producing excellent nurses and it pays tribute to the quality of our teachers.” Vanier’s three-year Nursing program is integrated with the McGill University School of Nursing. Students graduating with a DEC in Nursing can complete a Bachelor Degree in Nursing at McGill University in 2 years.

Christine Kostecki sums up her studies in Nursing with a “Wow”. She marvels at all she is learning and the endless possibilities open to her, including a plan to study for a master’s degree in nursing. Christine is also interested in research and applying her knowledge of sociology to her nursing expertise.

“Christine has always encouraged others to get involved and expand their awareness of the world around them,” says one of her teachers, Heidi Matarasso Bakerman. “Her own exposure to nursing has increased her awareness of cancer and women’s health and led her to do fundraising to support breast cancer research.”

Heidi Matarasso Bakerman adds, “Christine is very conscientious and works hard to achieve her goals. She always puts the needs of the patient in the forefront, and I know she’ll make valuable contributions to the profession of nursing.”

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