UPEI nursing professor Janet Bryanton receives national award from Prime Minister
For her passion, she received a national nursing award from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Health Minister Tony Clement at the official launch of the Centennial Year of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) in Toronto on February 1.
Dr. Bryanton is one of 14 extraordinary and diverse Canadian nurse leaders from across Canada who received a CNA Nurse to Know Centennial Achievement Award for their contributions to the health system and the health of Canadians during the ceremony.
Prime Minister Harper praised the over 270,000 registered nurses in Canada for their essential work on the front line of health care, and in research, advocacy, innovation, health policy development and education.
'CNA's nurses are setting national standards for our public health system, increasing patient safety, enabling technology, and ultimately improving access for all Canadians to get the care they need at the right time, in the right place. Our nurses are collaborators and leaders who have made a tremendous difference in the lives of all Canadians,' said the Prime Minister.
A native of P.E.I., Dr. Bryanton has been a nurse and a nurse educator for over 30 years. After graduating from the University of New Brunswick's nursing program in 1977, she worked for a year in the maternity unit of Charlottetown's now-closed Prince Edward IslandHospital. She moved on to the Prince Edward Island School of Nursing and spent the next 15 years instilling her passion for nursing in her students.
Her love for education inspired her to further her own credentials; she became a certified perinatal nurse in 2000 - the same year she began teaching at the University of Prince Edward Island's School of Nursing. And she received her PhD from McGill University in 2007.
At UPEI, she teaches third-year students in the nursing degree program. She teaches them about the importance of making parents feel as good as possible about themselves and their parenting skills. 'If they (parents) feel confident, their baby will benefit,' she says.
In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities, Dr. Bryanton sits on CNA's perinatal certification exam committee and has been closely involved with the Association of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island, having chaired its board of examiners for 13 years. Currently, she is a member of the PEI Breastfeeding Coalition, a provincial working group dedicated to promoting breastfeeding in PEI.
Dr. Marlene Smadu, president of the CNA, and associate dean of Nursing at the UniversitySaskatchewan, acknowledged the nurses recognized at the launch for applying their nursing education and skills to advance many important areas in the health system, and called on young Canadians to consider nursing as a career choice.
At the event, the CNA launched its new centennial website, www.CNA100.ca, outlining a number of activities throughout 2008 which will celebrate the centennial and commemorate the achievements of registered nurses to date.
Photo (left to right): Minister of Health, Tony Clement; Marlene Smadu, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, Janet Bryanton; and Prime Minister Stephen Harper
