Maureen Rowan has been a public health nurse for the past 30 years with the last 6 years as a clinical coordinator for Island Health. Her nursing career started when she graduated from the Royal Alexander School of Nursing in 1973 and then worked for 10 years in Toronto and Calgary Emergency and Intensive Care Units before moving to the Northwest Territories to work in First Nation Communities. Her personal experiences of working in these settings and communities resulted in her increased awareness of how the social determinants of health impact the health of individuals, families and communities. As a result of this awareness and a desire to have a better understanding, she returned to school to completing her Degree in Nursing at the University of Victoria. After completing her Degree in Nursing, she working as a public health nurse in Sundre and Cochrane Alberta for 3 years before moved to Victoria in 1987 to continue her work in Public Health Nursing.
Maureen worked as a generalist frontline public health nurse in South Vancouver Island for 21 year with special interests in aboriginal and school health as well as community development. During that time, she was also a sessional instructor at Camosun College for a period of 6 years and on the Esquimalt Neighborhood House Board of Directors for 2 years during the construction of their current site. She then accepted a clinical coordinator role and worked in this role for the past 6 years with a continued special interest in school and aboriginal health as well as community development. She enjoyed participation in School Health Provincial and Island Health Committees. She has played an active role in administration and dissemination of results of the McCreary Adolescent Health Surveys since 1992. She is currently participating in a South Vancouver Island Plan H initiative called “Healthy Kids R Us”. She is also enjoying being on the Board of Directors for the Sooke Community Health Initiative.
Maureen has been involved with PHABC for several years and has enjoyed acting a facilitator for the Victoria site of the PHABC Summer School for the past 3 years. She looks forward to continuing to support PHABC’s priorities and activities as she values the work that is being done by this agency in strategically planning for current and future public health concerns, addressing educational needs of health care providers and advocating for public health human resources in an increasingly complex health care system.