Dr. Peter Centre to host fundraiser in support of HIV/AIDS nursing

published on November 29, 2010

Proceeds will help create graduate endowment in HIV/AIDS and Social Justice at UBC School of Nursing

Vancouver, British Columbia (November 29, 2010) – A special fundraising event to support the vital role of nursing in HIV/AIDS care will be held Monday, November 29 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Vancouver’s Dr. Peter Centre (1110 Comox Street).

The event, hosted by the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (BC/Yukon Chapter), will raise proceeds towards the Irene Goldstone HIV/AIDS and Social Justice Graduate Scholarship Endowment at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. The fund has been established to mark the retirement of Irene Goldstone, adjunct professor in the UBC School of Nursing and former director of professional education and care evaluation at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul’s Hospital.

The endowment honours the contributions of all nurses who have worked tirelessly on the front lines of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care over the past three decades.

“In my 28 years engaged in the response to HIV/AIDS, I observed first-hand the invaluable role nursing plays in delivering care and treatment to individuals living with HIV and AIDS,” said Goldstone, who co-developed Canada’s first HIV-specific course for nurses at UBC and collaborated with the UBC College of Health Disciplines to create the first inter-professional HIV/AIDS elective.

“The establishment of this endowed fellowship will support the research training of future leaders in our response to HIV/AIDS,” Goldstone said.

Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, has helped support the endowment by pledging the full honorarium received with his 2010 Aubrey J. Tingle Prize for Outstanding Leadership, awarded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

“As we expand HIV treatment in British Columbia through the STOP HIV/AIDS pilot project, nursing will be critically important in the delivery of primary and supportive services,” said Dr. Montaner. “This endowment will help ensure our continued capacity to provide life-saving treatment to all individuals in need.”

“The emergence of the HIV pandemic in British Columbia will surely be remembered as one of the critical points in our history where nurses have made a significant contribution to public health,” said Dianne Doyle, president and CEO of Providence Health Care. “However, in the coming years, I believe the role that nurses will be required to play could be even greater as we expand access to HIV treatment across BC.”

Event sponsors include Abbott, Merck, ViiV Health Care, the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

The fundraiser will also honour World AIDS Day (December 1) and mark the International Year of the Nurse – 2010 is the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s death.

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For more information or to make a donation, please visit:

www.supporting.ubc.ca/HIVAIDSnursing

To attend this event (no charge), please contact:

Lynn Dagenais
LADagenais@providencehealth.bc.ca

For media inquiries regarding this event, please contact:

Graham Pollock
BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
604-806-9093
gpollock@cfenet.ubc.ca

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Dr. Peter Centre to host fundraiser in support of HIV/AIDS nursing

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