WELLINGTON COUNTY – In 1925, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) was created to advocate for nurses and the health care system.
Now, the association is marking 100 years of action and impact.
The RNAO has over 54,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students, as well as partners around the world who “rely on RNAO programs and resources to advance healthy public policy and evidence-based care,” stated officials.
The association focuses on influencing government policy through research-informed reports, submissions, letters and initiatives.
“We … advocate, especially towards our provincial government,” RNAO Wellington spokesperson Megan Pople told the Advertiser.
Pople’s career is in public health, specifically guideline development for infectious diseases.
MEGAN POPLE
In her youth she recognized her desire to advocate for people and important issues.
“It wasn’t until I was in nursing school and I started getting involved with the RNAO, where I started to realize that nurses have so many different roles beyond bedside,” Pople said.
Currently the RNAO is advocating for safe nurse staffing ratios, which “is not great in Ontario, but we’re working on it.”
“Another big one is enhancing the harm reduction services specifically for the toxic drug crisis,” she said.
RNAO has various chapters across Ontario offering professional support and resources to maintain the unity of the association.
“We have a climate action plan we’ve been working on; climate impacts health so we have a lot of different issues surround that,” Pople said.
She noted anyone who joins the organization can “bring forth their concerns and we will advocate for it.”
At a local level, Wellington members are hoping to participate in Pride month in June.
“RNAO has a best practiced guideline we developed to help advocate for LGBT+ health care,” she said.
The association has been contacting local organizations who prioritize the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
“I would say that the health care isn’t really equitable; we do have a guideline for it [and] it’s called promoting 2SLGBTQI+ health equity,” she explained.
It’s important, she added, because the guideline is “ensuring that health care is safe and it’s equitable.”
“It’s nice that we can use our positions for meaningful change,” Pople said.
Gala
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, RNAO hosted a red-carpet Nursing Week Gala on May 8. The event took place in Milton to mark the association’s “century of nursing leadership, advocacy and service across Ontario.”
The celebratory evening brought together nurses from Wellington County, Waterloo, Mississauga, Halton Hills and Brampton.
“It’s not just a professional gathering, it’s a heartfelt, community-wide celebration that welcomes nurses, nursing students, family members, supporters and friends,” stated officials.
Nursing Week is May 12 to 18. Pople said that as it approaches, “we should really think of all the behind-the-scenes things that nurses do to keep our communities healthy and our population safe.”
To learn more about the RNAO visit rnao.ca.
