2014 Merit Awards Recipients

Preetha Krishnan was Manitoba’s first full-time long-term care NP. The results she achieved in this groundbreaking role — in improved quality of care and life — have since led to the expansion of the long-term care NP program in that province.

Through evidence-based practice, Preetha continues to set a new standard of care for nursing home residents, especially in dementia and end-of-life care. Acting both as a leader and an educator, she actively promotes the role of the NP as an integral part of the health-care team. She is also involved in research and knowledge translation of best evidence into care, conducting projects to improve elderly care. This recipient of three nursing excellence awards is both a model and a mentor, contributing significantly to the advancement of the profession.

Preetha obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Manitoba. She has also earned certification in the Joanna Briggs Institute’s Comprehensive Systematic Review course.

As vice-president of interprofessional practice and chief nursing officer for the Winnipeg Health Region, Lori Lamont is a creative leader who has made a significant contribution to health care and nursing in Manitoba, especially in elder and collaborative care. Both have been the focus of her passion, and many of her research projects, publications and presentations are designed to advance understanding and knowledge in these two key areas.

Her career, which spans three decades, has seen her rise progressively in positions of increasing responsibility. Today, she oversees emergency, critical care, medicine, long-term care, and clinical education across two tertiary hospitals, six health centres and 39 long-term care facilities. In every challenge she undertakes, Lori demonstrates a collaborative brand of nursing leadership which has often earned her recognition as “the best boss to work for.”

Lori has a bachelor of nursing from the University of Manitoba and a master’s of public administration from the University of Winnipeg.

An associate professor and director of the nurse practitioner program at Athabasca University, where she oversees Canada’s first online NP program, Debbie Fraser also teaches at the University of Manitoba and the University of Toronto. As well, she maintains a practice in the neonatal intensive care unit of the St. Boniface General Hospital.

Debbie is a researcher, author, editor, administrator and, above all, an outstanding nursing educator. For more than 15 years, she has played a central role in NP education programs, helping to shape nursing education and practice in Canada and abroad. In academic and practice settings, in publications, conferences and committees, Debbie shares her expertise in neonatal nursing education and practice, enriching the knowledge base. She is a global contributor, a model educator whose excellence has been recognized since 1989.

Debbie received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Manitoba.

For 13 years Bonnie Stevens has held the Signy Hildur Eaton Chair in Paediatric Nursing Research — the first endowed chair of its kind in Canada. She directs the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Pain and co-directs the Centre for Pain Management Research and Education at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she is also the associate chief of nursing research.

Recognized as a world expert for her research on the assessment and management of pain in infants and children, Bonnie continues to produce practice-changing knowledge. In the last decade, her work has focussed on knowledge transition into practice and, increasingly, on helping developing countries. The numerous awards garnered over the years attest to a stellar career in nursing research, teaching, advocacy and mentorship.

Bonnie earned her bachelor of nursing from McMaster University, her master’s of science in nursing from the University of Toronto and her doctorate from McGill University.