Sask. Catholic schools renew partnership with U of S on nursing practicum

(Source: Google)

The following story originally ran in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. It’s paid for through federal Local Journalism Initiative funding and shared under a Creative Commons licence.

A Prince Albert Catholic School Division nursing agreement with the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) will continue for another year.

Last school year, the division hosted 12 nurses completing their practicum with the U of S College of Nursing. In a report presented at the board’s regular meeting on June 16, the division confirmed the program would continue for another year.

Next school year the division will have eight students and each student will complete 216 hours, two days a week from September until December of 2025.

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Prince Albert Catholic Director of Education Lorel Trumier said administrators at schools that hosted the practicum students saw the value they brought.

“They bring a rich element to support curriculum delivery and areas of support,” Trumier said

“We know that those young nurses need to see what community nursing looks like and what that involves. It certainly involves educating people around them about the different aspects (of health) so it’s very important,” she added.

Nursing students will be involved in creating health teaching, health promotion and disease prevention strategies. The nursing students will also develop resources for staff and students according to school needs.

Nurses will also be able to do presentations about health-related subjects.

St. John Community School, Ecole St. Anne School, Ecole Holy Cross School, and St. Catherine School will each have two nursing students assigned.

“It’s been very successful, so we’re very grateful for the University of Saskatchewan Prince Albert and the nursing students that we receive,” Trumier said.

Catholic School Division trustees receive year-end mental health report

Prince Albert Catholic School Division trustees received an outline of mental health and well-being initiatives and supports in the division at their regular meeting on June 16.

Superintendent Charity Dmytruk provided the update. Following the presentation, Director of Education Lorel Trumier reflected on how much work was done in this area in the past year.

“I’m very many years into my career and what I appreciate is how much intentionality there is to mental health and well-being,” she said. “That’s changed considerably over the last 30 years.”

Trumier said they also appreciate the school division staff who support different work on mental health in the division. Another example is the Mental Health Capacity Building partnership with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) at St. John Community School.

“I think it is just speaking to that intentionality, whether it’s the mental health capacity, building opportunity that we have at St. John, and we’re going to endeavour to have that at St Francis next year,” Trumier said

The MHCB initiative focuses on prevention, health promotion, early identification and intervention by helping youth better manage their feelings and find help if they become overwhelmed.

The MHCB pilot started at St. John Community School in September, 2022. The initiative operates 12 months a year and focuses on community outreach in the summer.

The division is also part of the working group on the Mental Health Priority, the new Provincial Education Plan.

The Division also utilizes the Red Cross Beyond the Hurt Bully Prevention Program but has brought the faith-based perspective into it.

“We do a lot of work with that. That’s really changed the dialogue for students in schools and we’ve made it our own. We’ve made it a Catholic focus. We know Jesus as a model, gospel values guide what we do, where we respect each person as a child of God, and that’s the foundation of the work,” she explained.

She explained that seeing all the work in the area made her reflect on how things have changed.

“I was reflecting on how beautiful it is that there is attention to these matters now, much more than in the beginning of my career. I think it’s putting everyone in a much better place to support our students today,” Trumier said.