Dr. Heather F. Clarke, NSc’66, feels the greatest lesson she learned at Queen’s was to do your job with great pride.
“Our teachers and director set high expectations and were outstanding role models,” says Dr. Clarke, who is currently the Chancellor of the Vancouver School of Theology and is active with the VST’s Indigenous Studies Centre Native Ministry Consortium. She has spent the past five decades researching and promoting health and nursing policies and championing Aboriginal issues.
Her dedication is one of the reasons the Vancouver Branch of the Queen’s University Alumni Association is giving her its highest honour, the Kathleen Beaumont Hill (KBH) Award.
Dr. Clarke will be celebrated at a public reception hosted by the Vancouver Alumni Branch on Nov 24. She took time out to reflect on her career and her time spent at Queen’s.
Question: How does it feel to be this year’s Kathleen Beaumont Hill Award Recipient?
Answer: Receiving this award is a great honour – and was a great surprise. I am also humbled to be among esteemed previous awardees. As well, I feel privileged to be able to give recognition to the values and role models I have had that provided me with the foundation for pursuing excellence, being a contributing team member, and being deeply committed to my family, work and community.
Question: You served on the boards of non-profit organizations such as the Bill Reid Foundation, Vancouver School of Theology, Vancouver Opera Guild, and Shaughnessy Heights United Church. Why is it important to you to give back to the community?
Answer: I would express my community involvement as being engaged, passionate and committed rather than “giving back.” I benefit so much from my involvement that it is more “receiving” than “giving.” I get involved in organizations, issues and causes that I believe in – that are generally related to social justice issues, accessibility of services, arts and culture, and opportunities for everyone, and improving my understanding and appreciation of living faithfully. Prior to retirement, I also benefited from volunteer involvement with many professional associations and journal reviews. Without a doubt, I am the one who gains from these experiences – learning, making and deepening relationships, having new experiences, expanding my world.
Question: You have spent nearly 50 years in the field of nursing and health care policy/research. What have been some of your career highlights?
Answer: Indeed – I have spent more than 50 years working in nursing and health care. It is hard to believe and difficult to select specific highlights. I have not had a job that I did not like, that I was not excited about, or that bored me. However, it was always the “start-up” positions that I had that were the most exciting and rewarding, especially when they continued after my involvement. These included opportunities that I had almost from the time I graduated from Queen’s in 1966.
My first “start-up” position was with the Ontario Cancer Society based in Toronto and entailed initiating a provincial system to provide patient services in the home. It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed further education, though, if I was to be effective in helping to shape the future of nursing as critical to an effective health care system.
After completing my MN, I was one of a handful of nurse practitioners in Vancouver. That was 1972, when there was no special legislation or regulation for nurse practitioners, but they were being introduced in a trial study in Hamilton, Ont. With others in B.C. we set up short courses for RNs to gain required skills. Having this experience qualified me to be part of the multi-disciplinary provincial team charged with establishing community board-governed health and social services clinics with nurse practitioners in four B.C. communities. While no longer governed by community boards, the clinics still operate and nurse practitioners are found throughout B.C. in a variety of settings, having advanced education and special professional regulation.
I have always been interested in research and evaluation with the potential to lead to policy and practice improvements. As Chief of Family and Child Health for Health Canada, I had the opportunity to do a national study that highlighted the differences in needs and services in the different provinces and territories, as well as urban and rural differences. The results were used to establish or contribute to some federal family and child health and development programs.
Another example of policy-related research (I was a co-investigator) that was effective in establishing a new approach was the international hospital outcomes study that clearly established how nursing made a difference, under what conditions, and in what way. In 2000, the B.C. Ministry of Health agreed to establish a Nursing Directorate that would have consultative responsibilities to the government, liaise with other health-related positions and departments in government, and support innovative nursing programs/projects that were based on research and had a strong evaluative element to them. I had the privilege of being the person to establish the Nursing Directorate, which later operated with a chief nursing officer who liaised with other chief nursing officers in Canada.
More recently I have focused on consulting on First Nations nursing and health care and policy issues – each are unique and incredibly rewarding.
Question: What are some of your favourite Queen’s memories?
Answer: My nursing program was called the “sandwich” program. We attended Queen’s for our first year, taking many courses with the med students. Then we went into a hospital-based training program of 2 or 3 years, returning to Queen’s for a final year where we either took the teaching or public health stream (which I took.)
I loved having Summerhill House for the School of Nursing – such a grand building – the porch, creaky stairs, classrooms upstairs! And having classes with the med students was memorable in that we were all learning the same basics.
Living in Chown Hall with students from various faculties was great, but we did tend to stick together as nursing students. Returning in my fifth year, I was focused on getting through courses while working at Kingston General Hospital, having received my RN just before returning to class.
My fondest memory was my field experience in Moose Factory. Such challenges – but what a wonderful community of health care and social service professionals and teachers! One of those challenges was escorting two infants in hip spica casts and an elderly First Nations woman (limited English) to Toronto for treatment – travelling by train overnight. It is great to learn about the continuation and growth of Queen’s-Moose Factory partnership over the past 50 years. When speaking to the Queen’s nursing grads several years ago, we shared stories about our experiences.
Question: What is the best lesson you learned or advice you received while at Queen’s?
Answer: I think the best lesson I learned at Queen’s had to do with being a professional nurse with great pride and commitment to excellence. Our teachers and director set high expectations and were outstanding role models. Nurses were essential to the health care team – no more, no less important than any other member.
The public is welcome to join the Vancouver Alumni Branch in honouring Dr. Clarke on Nov. 24 at the Kathleen Beaumont Hill Award Reception.
