Regional Nursing Lead, Healthy Schools, Population & Public Health, Northern Health
Heather has a strong passion in the areas of public health and health promotion. She has held formal and informal leadership roles in health promotion, preventive public health care, undergraduate nursing education and direct patient care services both in acute care and community settings. She has continuously upgraded my education and has a Master of Science degree in health promotion. She has completed a number of PHAC Skills Online modules to maintain up to date practice and skills.
More recently, Heather has acted as a co-chair of a committee that planned and executed the first Summer of Wellness public health campaign, including writing blog posts for our public web site. She is taking the lead on evaluation of the campaign.
In the past, Heather used a population health promotion framework and community development perspective to plan, coordinate, participate in and evaluate a community screening project for preschoolers in collaboration with an Intersectoral group of professionals.
As a university instructor in a nursing program, she endeavored to always include information about the determinants of health, their impacts on health, and the importance of an upstream approach to health.
She maintains up to date membership in a number of professional associations: Canadian Public Health Association, Public Health Association of BC, and Community Health Nurses Association of Canada. These memberships enable her to maintain current awareness of public health literature and evidence-informed practices as they pertain to my professional roles.
Heather is a long-time citizen of the North and am dedicated to improving the health of northern citizens. She is committed to leading by example by engaging in 30-60 minutes of daily physical activity – in her spare time Heather can be found outside in her garden, running the local trails with friends and cross-country skiing.