Speaking out for nursing. Speaking out for health.

Elizabeth Edwards

Status: Hopeful
Name: 
Elizabeth Edwards
Credentials: 
RN, BScN, MSN

I never made a decision to be a nurse. Becoming a nurse has been a journey of discovery since I was four-years-old and watched a visiting nurse care for my grandfather at home following surgery. As I watched her unpack her things, I remember thinking, “Oh, that’s why I am here. That is what I am supposed to be.” And, after nearly 40 years, I am still amazed that I am paid to do something every day that I just love - nursing.

My undergraduate degree is from the University of Western Ontario and my Master’s in Nursing is from D’Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y. I have had an eclectic career in a variety of clinical environments, from emergency nursing to teaching community nursing in Karachi, Pakistan. Teaching in the undergraduate program at the University of Toronto led to a professional practice leader/educator job in the Department of General Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Currently, I am a professor in the Brock University-Loyalist College Collaborative Baccalaureate Program at the Loyalist College site in Belleville.

As an RNAO member for most of my work life, I am passionate about political action as evidenced by my collaboration with Dr. Tammy O’Rourke to establish a nurse practitioner-led clinic in Belleville. Presently, I am a board member for the clinic.

My philosophy of nursing is best described by two quotes. One, from Ghandi, is the famous, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” The second is from Dr. Josephine Flaherty who told me when I was a student: “It is imperative that you write well.”