Douglas College receives historic donation to support nursing students
The estate of Mary Gordon, a former registered nurse, gifted $3 million to the college’s Faculty of Health Sciences
Douglas College received $3 million — its largest ever donation — Thursday from the Mary Gordon Estate to support its nursing students and programs.
The Faculty of Health Sciences is directing the funding into four streams: ten $3,000 awards for incoming students each year, six preceptorships for students to take on clinical studies in remote communities, a new post degree in geriatrics, and to create an innovation fund.
“Canada is facing an unprecedented nursing shortage,” said Kathy Denton, president and CEO of Douglas College, at the announcement. “Mary Gordon’s generous gift will empower the Faculty of Health Sciences to take a leading role in addressing this critical issue.”
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She added that Douglas College has renamed its Health Sciences Simulation Centre the Mary Gordon Health Sciences Centre for Experiential Learning, in honour of the gift.
Gordon had sold a property in Sechelt with the goal to give away the proceeds, according to Mark Tindle, the executor of her estate. Gordon first donated to Douglas College in 2019, creating the Mary Gordon Nursing Award for students graduating with a Bachelor of Science, Nursing, in B.C.
“The joy and satisfaction which that first gift provided to Mrs. Gordan in the last couple of years of her life was enormous,” Tindle said.
In 2023, Statistics Canada reported a shortage of registered nurses, with nearly 30,000 vacant roles for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, a need for more than 13,000, and more than 20,000 open spots for nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates.
According to the BC Nurses Union, retention, returning of early retirees, and recruitment are all needed to address the province’s nursing shortage.
Scott Brolin, the executive director of Eagle Ridge Hospital and the Tri-Cities, said there is a shortage of all health care workers in the Tri-Cities, but that they’ve been focusing on retention and recruitment to mitigate the issue.
At Eagle Ridge hospital, they have increased nursing staff more than seven percent, but Brolin didn’t say what the Tri-Cities current nurse vacancy rates are. “It’s a hard one to pin down because our need is also based upon our hospital volumes.”
While Douglas College is not increasing the number of spots available for nursing students, Pamela Cawley, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, told the Dispatch these funds “increases the interest in the applications.”
She said the school can’t increase the number of admitted students until there are more experienced nurses available to mentor students during their work placements.
COVID, stress, and the public’s attitude to the healthcare system is deterring people from choosing nursing as a career path, she said.
“It’s our work to turn it around, and to make sure they understand the career,” she said. “The government’s been doing a phenomenal job of making sure that it’s being well supported, there are benefits, looking at the nursing low workloads, It’s much different than it was four years ago.”
Cawley added that the college’s present enrollment numbers are fine, “But we always pay attention to them, because we certainly do not want to suddenly go down and not be able to meet the demands of the province.”
