International Council of Nurses CEO praises work of Canadian nurses in rural communities

Geneva, Switzerland; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; 1 November 2018 – Dr Isabelle Skinner, CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), visited the Association of Registered Nurses of Manitoba (ARNM) in Winnipeg yesterday to view how Canadian nurses deliver care and enhance the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in rural communities.

“Nurses in Canada are working towards re-designing health system integration with the goals of integrating community health workers into multidisciplinary teams in meaningful roles,” noted Dr Skinner. “I am highly impressed with the work they do to deliver people-centred care to rural and remote communities and improve access to healthcare for all.”

She was accompanied by Dr Claire Betker, President of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), who has showcased how Canada’s nurses are both delivering care and working with others to enhance the lives and close the gap in health care outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in rural and remote communities in Manitoba.

“I was honoured to welcome Dr Skinner to Treaty 1 territory, where the communities of Winnipeg are located. As President of CNA, I was pleased to show how nurses and community health workers in rural and remote communities work together to deliver quality health-care to the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Manitoba,” said Dr Betker.

Mike Villeneuve, CNA’s Chief Executive Officer, added that “CNA is on its own journey, working to understand and meet the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. This is work we all have to do. We encourage everyone across Canada – individuals and organizations – to truly engage in understanding the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples and reflect on ways we can work together to put strategies in places to close gaps and improve Indigenous health outcomes.”

Dr Skinner, who previously worked as a remote area nurse in Australia, said that a key priority for her was to meet with the President of CNA and talk about how Canada is managing to integrate primary health care teams where nurses, nurse practitioners and community health workers work together with the rest of the team to support people in remote and Indigenous communities. “This is a key global agenda and ICN has recently renewed its commitment to primary health care globally in the Declaration of Astana. Canada can teach us some lessons about how to do this to provide culturally responsive people-centred care” added Dr Skinner, who is also interested in digital health, including how Canada is supporting people with the electronic health record and how it is planned to adopt the ICN International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) into its system.

Note for Editors

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses’ associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally.

The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) is the national and global professional voice of Canadian nursing, representing over 139,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners in Canada. CNA advances the practice and profession of nursing to improve health outcomes and strengthen Canada’s publicly funded, not-for-profit health system.

For further information please contact

Gyorgy Madarasz, Press Officer, International Council of Nurses, Tel: +41 22 908 01 16

David Granovsky, Lead, Government Relations, Canadian Nurses Association, Tel +1 613-237-2159, ext. 525

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