Beausoleil students get career hints
By Sharon Weatherall
BEAUSOLEIL FN – Local high school students got some guidance about what to do after graduation at a “Post-Secondary Career Fair’ hosted by their First Nation.
Sylvia Norton-Sutherland from Beausoleil’s Education Department introduced recruitment officers from Brock University, Georgian College, Sir Sanford Fleming, University of Ontario Technology (UOT), Durham College, and the Aboriginal Post-Secondary Information Program.
Norton-Sutherland admitted she needed coaxing to complete high school.
“I had my mom and dad pushing me to attend school,” she recalled. “At St. Theresa High School I had Roco Augimeri, who was one of those teachers that made me do my work,” said Norton-Sutherland, who has been employed by the Band since 2004.
During the three-hour session, Christian Island students attending four high schools heard presentations by emergency service workers and Tiffany King, who operates a successful printing business called “Tiffany’s Tints”, where she produces a variety of products including T-shirts.
Community health nurse Mary Paillé, who has worked at Beausoleil Health Centre since 2005, said her role is similar to that of a public health unit in that she provides education and interventions aimed at protecting and preventing illness, and provides supports to assist people to move towards their definition of health at both the community and individual level.
“I partner with the community and strategic partners to try my best to identify both the barriers and the supports necessary to address their identified priorities – not just at a superficial level but the deeply-entrenched foundational barriers that may not be as obvious, and use holistic creativity to support change and their removal,” said Paillé.
“This involves basic things like immunizations, educational workshops related to chronic diseases, prenatal classes and post-partum home visits, communicable disease control, teaching sex education at the school, influenza, pandemic, and emergency preparedness planning, etc. It includes going beyond providing basic information about health.”
Paillé took a unique collaborative nursing program offered through Georgian College and York University based in the Human Sciences and founded on the principles of client-centred care. It trained her as a holistic nurse, caring for the body, mind, spirit, and emotions. Paillé said she didn’t enter nursing school until her 30s.
“When my paternal grandmother was in the hospital at the end of her life, I saw the way the nursing staff cared for her and how it made her passing easier not just for her, but for us as well. They were very compassionate, pampering, present, and empathetic,” said Paillé.
“Out of gratitude, I wanted to be able to do that for others as well.
“Palliative care was what lead me to choose nursing, but I kept my options open to other opportunities. I have had a varied experience – obstetrics, medical-surgical, palliative, and now community health Nursing, but I like this the best. The long-term investment made in the lives of others gives me opportunity to see the changes that result in part, because of the contribution I am making, and I find it very rewarding.”
Paillé emphasized the top 10 qualities of a good nurse – compassion being number one. She talked about the need for First Nation registered nurses and nurse practitioners.
“You are engaged in a lifetime of learning, and it welcomes passionate investment of self. I really hope I lit a fire of interest and that in four or five years we have a fresh crop of new nurses,”said Paillé.
On May 16-17th, Norton-Sutherland headed to McMaster University for a tour of the facility, with a small group of Grade 11 and 12 students who were interested in nursing as a career.