Elizabeth Caroline Edwards

The mission statement for St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario states, “It is an honour to serve the sick.” Dr. Rosemary Rizzo Parse believes that nurses live the art of human becoming by bearing witness in true presence with the individual to lived meanings and quality of life. Both of these viewpoints are fundamental to my personal philosophy of nursing.

My undergraduate degree is from the University of Western Ontario and my master’s degree 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 where I was able to practise Parse’s human becoming philosophy daily. 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 working 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 and the MAL Education on the RNAO board of directors.