Hello Fellow RNs, NPs and nursing students:
- Nursing Week (May 12–16, 2025): We at SNIG thank you for your important and often difficult work. I hope you can celebrate being a nurse with your nursing colleagues. One of my SNIG colleagues Paula Manuel writes a blog, Lifeofanurse.com. One of her most recent posts is titled "What in the World..?" In it, she discusses some of the issues facing Canadians now. I suggest you check it out. It is an award-winning blog read by nurses all over the world.
- Nursing Week award: SNIG and RetNIG will be offering a bursary/award during Nursing week on Facebook. Watch our Facebook page for further details.
- Wellness tip: Lately, health professionals are learning more about gut microbiomes and the effect on our health. I recently read that an unhealthy gut biome may be a factor in obesity. Other health issues such as IBD, arthritis, diabetes, eczema, celiac, atherosclerosis and mental illness may also be affected by gut microbiome. Having a diet rich in fermented foods (probiotics) and high fibre vegetables (prebiotic) such as peas, beans, asparagus and garlic are good. High fibre foods are beneficial because the gut bacteria ferment these foods and use them as a food source. Harmful diets for the gut are those high in processed foods, large amounts of animal proteins and fried foods. We should also limit use of antibiotics as much as possible.
- Federal election 2025: As you know, Canadians recently held a general election.I worked at a polling station on election day and was impressed by the process administered by Elections Canada, an independent non-partisan organization. Nurses need to be politically engaged, knowing the issues which affect our families and our patients. Which parties support public health care, quality education, women's, LBGTQ and Indigenous rights? Which parties consider environmental issues? Are party policies evidence-based? We can see how democracy is at threat when ordinary citizens are ill-informed, feel disenfranchised and are angry. Chahat Sharma on our executive wrote an excellent piece on "Why Nursing Voices are Essential to Today's Democracy" – an excellent read which is attached .
- RNAO Annual General Meeting (May 29-30): This year's Annual General Meeting (AGM) is fast approaching! I am very proud to be a member and attend the assemblies in Toronto. RNAO is a very progressive organization, basing its actions on evidence, passion and considering the social determinants of health: " Speaking out for nursing. Speaking out for health."
- Other announcements: You will see changes come fall. All our webinars will be moving over to the Microsoft Teams Network and we will have a new email address. You do not have to have Teams to view the webinars. Stay tuned as exciting times are ahead.
Best wishes to you all. Thank you for being an RNAO and SNIG member. Thanks to those who attend our frequent webinars. They are available on our website and on SNIG Facebook if you missed them.
Our wonderful executive members are myself from London, Una Ferguson from Ottawa, Chahat Sharma and Laura Uribe from Toronto, McKenna Hill from Keswick, Merit Sadek from Mississauga, Allison Norton from Sudbury, Brad Manuel from Barrie area, Paula Manuel from Wasaga Beach and Aveen Abdoli from the Toronto area.
Sincerely,
Brenda Hutton
Chair SNIG, RNAO