As Georgian College prepares to launch its new four-year honours bachelor of science – nursing (BScN) program this coming fall, today’s news of a $1.5-million endowment will come as welcome news to future nurses looking to fulfill their dream of a career in health care.
The bursary program, established by The Joyce Family Foundation, is the largest gift in support of financial aid that the college has ever received, as well as the largest endowment.
Dr. Sandy McDonald, a member of the board of trustees and a local cardiovascular surgeon, was at Georgian’s Barrie campus Thursday to make the announcement. McDonald said the endowment funds will help a lot of people pursue a post-secondary education who may otherwise would not have been able to.
“A lot of people who’d make excellent professional staff can’t afford to go to school so they don’t apply," he said. "Now this gives people who have been under adversity the opportunity to apply for a bursary program to help get through school."
Another important component to the bursary program, McDonald noted, is that recipients will also be living in the community and — hopefully — will ultimately choose to work here as well after graduation.
“This allows these nurses to stay in the community: train in the community, get used to the institutions and then they’ll come back to the community,” he said. “Over the next several years, we are going to be short a tremendous number of nurses and if we can train them here in a world-class institution then they will stay here and look after the patients in Simcoe-Muskoka.”
The timing of both the endowment program — in addition to the start of the four-year honours nursing program — couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, the doctor says.
“We know there’s a tremendous shortage of health-care (workers) in Canada. The pandemic has certainly underlined that shortage. When nurses aren’t available for care, care isn’t given. What we have to do is increase the number of nurses available to look after sick people and to do that we have to give them an opportunity for a good education somewhere they can afford to go and in a world-class institution ” McDonald said. “There’s no question we need more nurses.”
The bursary program will launch in this fall, and will benefit four students per year for the entirety of the four year program. As the program continues to unfold through the four years, there will be 16 people that are funded annually, which McDonald acknowledged is a “fairly significant gift.”
“The beauty of the gift is it’s in perpetuity," he said.
Four bursaries, with a value of approximately $4,500 each, will be awarded every year to new full-time students entering the first year of the BScN program who have demonstrated financial need and have overcome obstacles and adversity.
One of the bursaries will be directed to a student who self‐identifies as a person with Indigenous ancestry. Each bursary is renewable each year assuming students remain eligible. By year four, it’s anticipated that the endowment will be distributing up to $72,000 every year to support nursing students.
Alexandra Aiken, who serves as vice-president Sustainability of the Georgian College Students’ Association, is currently halfway through her own journey to becoming a nurse. She told the crowd it has been an emotional one.
After spending countless hours with loved ones while they received care for myotonic muscular dystrophy, Aiken said she saw a need to make a change.
“I would often see the nurses overworked and struggling to help their patients and during these times I’d find myself reflecting on what could be different,” Aiken said. “I didn’t know and that’s because I had no experience as a nurse and I couldn’t begin to understand the problems because I didn’t know what they were going through.”
Today's announcement investment will help so many qualified and deserving nurses complete their program and go on to become competent and compassionate caregivers across the region, she added.
“The renewable bursaries will help ensure hardworking students get a chance at pursuing a post-secondary education, helping alleviate some of the financial burdens that might otherwise end their dreams," Aiken said.
Georgian College president and CEO MaryLynn West-Moynes said seeing the honours nursing program come to fruition — and now having this bursary program in place to help students — as she prepares to end her tenure at the college is definitely gratifying.
“We have been working hard to get the program in place and to make sure we have the right facilities and this just completes that circle. It means those that can’t afford to take nursing could apply and are eligible to get funding for four years to complete their entire degree right here in our community,” West-Moynes said.
“What’s powerful for me in this business is it’s one student at a time. We see lots of students who have barriers (unable) to complete their education," she added. "It’s pretty impactful for me that another barrier has been removed so that if you dream of being a nurse in our community then you shouldn’t allow finances to get in the way. There is a way to come forward and get support West-Moynes and here is an example.”
Georgian is set to welcome the first cohort of students into the new four-year nursing degree program this September at both the Barrie and Owen Sound campuses.
