Academic News

The Nursing Department would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Troy Gutowski, a year 3 Nursing Student, on being drafted to the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). For those less familiar with the Canadian national summer sport of lacrosse, the NLL is the professional equivalent of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is comprised of 15 teams across Canada and the US.

Troy began playing box lacrosse when he was 9 years of age. He is considered a strong offensive playmaker, leading the Canada West team in overall points in the 2021 IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship this summer. Troy was also the overall tournament leader for assists – racking up 10 assists over the course of 3 games. When asked what it is he loves most about the sport, he replied “how fast the game is, the quick decision-making and reaction time it requires. I also love it for the friendships and relationships I’ve made over the years.”

Way to go Troy, and all the best in reaching all of your career goals – within and outside of nursing!

Fun fact: Wayne Gretzky, who also grew up playing lacrosse, is one of the owners of the 15th and newest team (Las Vegas) to be included in the NLL.

Post written by Tammy Neufeld – Nursing Instructor

As we get settled into this new academic year, let’s continue to look back at some amazing student work from last year:

The Health Promotion of Older Adults in Community Clinical has had another rewarding and unique rotation during the pandemic. From March 24 – June 3rd, 2021, through a blended approach, groups connected with community resources in the Silver Heights and Fort Garry neighbourhoods. This experience is empowering to all as the students obtain a glimpse of what it is to be a community nurse and learn from older adults as they strive to promote health and wellness.

Through phone calls and socially distanced visits, these 2 dedicated groups met with community resources teams such as the Healthy Aging Resource team (HART) and the Community Resources Finders to reveal the impact of the pandemic on emotional wellness leading to social isolation. Students were able to recognize the importance of these resources and help facilitate how to navigate our health system. The students discovered how the determinants of health impact the older adult community.

As seen in the photos, student nurse groups collaborated with clients and on-site staff during blood pressure clinics, and prioritized the need for educational sessions. The Fort Garry community area recognized a need for a broader wellness fair, focusing on brain health, nutrition, and exercise. The group split into smaller groups and created poster boards and a drop-in wellness fair, where screening was completed and all COVID protocols were adhered to.

In Silver Heights, students presented on brain and memory wellness to an older adult community group that meets weekly via the building recording studio. This was then broadcasted and recorded for all the residents in the building. The group created a booklet to give to the residents prior to the broadcasting, so they could follow along. This is a fantastic example of RRC students harnessing innovation and technology to facilitate safe connections and learning.

These initiatives resulted in engaged older adults where they shared their own experiences during the blood pressure screening clinics and welcomed the students into their homes. The students were able to recognize the incredible resilience of each older adult as they manage multiple health issues, the effects of social isolation on mental health, and learning new ways to connect within their own community.

Group A

Group B

The students’ hard work was very well received, as evidenced by this Note of Thanks:

We just wanted to touch base and thank you all. We appreciate the faculty, support staff and students for their untold sacrifices and commitment to serving our community, in THE MOST challenging of times.

Warmest Regards,
The Rotary Crew

Blog post written and photos provided by Teri-Lyn Healy – Nursing Instructor

As we embark on a new academic year, let’s look back on some of the amazing student work from last year:

February 2021 was a challenging time in Winnipeg Manitoba for all, with the public health restrictions, so as a part of their Health Promotion of the Older Adult Community Health rotation, the Red River College nursing students set out, in collaboration with the Elmwood, EK Active Living Seniors Centre to do a project that was creative and highlighted the community strengths and resources. They sought to see the beauty in the community and convey it through a brief video compilation posted to the centre’s Elmwood EK Active Living Seniors Centre Facebook page. Its goal was to create motivation and hope through a creative look at a community and promote the positive initiatives that the community is engaged in.

Although they weren’t able to meet in person, students talked with many program coordinators and community leaders to find out priorities for wellness among older adults in the Elmwood, Chalmers, and greater River East area. One consideration noted was that many essential services are changing to virtual, and this makes internet access even more fundamental for social connectedness and for access to health and government services. The student group wrote a letter to the area’s MP advocating for affordable internet access to highlight this need.

Here are a few student excerpts on the unique experience:

“Working on the community photo essay and hearing about the community organizations brought out the personality of the community and showcased what a wholesome, well rounded and quaint area the Elmwood/Chalmers area really is. I wouldn’t hesitate to live there.” – Andrea Jungwirth

“I found making the photo essay useful because it taught us to come out of our comfort zone and communicate as a group in a unique circumstance and adapt to changes.” – Niloufar Bagherzamani

“It was valuable to view a community through a nursing lens and discover its strengths and resources in places I hadn’t seen previously.” – Kezia Balzer

“The photo essay allowed us to use the community assessment tools from the theory course. Using the nursing process helped to evaluate the need for affordable internet services and advocate for those populations by writing a letter to the MP.” – Nicole Martens

Blog post written by Tracey McCulloch – Nursing Instructor

Congratulations to all of our award recipients!

The Nursing Department would like to congratulate clinical instructor Chinyere (Chichi) Asagwara on winning a Nursing Excellence Award! This award is provided by the Nursing Week Awards Committee at Health Sciences Centre.

Chinyere was nominated by her peers Krista Carlson, Kathy Collis and Karen Oke in Adult Emergency and endorsed by her manager Jacqueline Molina.

The Nursing Excellence Awards Committee writes:

You are deserving of this award because you have exhibited traits of a true leader, mentor, and strong patient advocate. You lift the morale and spirits of every staff member in the emergency department. You have contributed to quality improvement by participating in a LEAN project for the new Low Acuity Area and are a member of the Adult Emergency Nursing practice committee and previously the Code Blue committee. You are an instructor in the SIM lab working with residents and staff and use this opportunity to provide education to other staff within the department. You also participate with Canadian Military Search and Rescue teams in coaching and facilitating their learning opportunities at the bedside. In addition, you hold active membership with the National Emergency Nurse Association and were an integral team member in planning of the National conference in 2020.

Your peers’ state, “Through the ups and downs inherent in an emergency department, with staffing shortages, overcrowding, trauma and crisis, Chinyere has proven to be a rock-solid backbone of this department. She is unfaltering in her calm and determined approach during the chaos that can present from the triage desk to resus room.”

Due to COVID-19, Chinyere will be honored at the annual Nursing Excellence Awards Ceremony when it is able to safely resume.

Congratulations Chinyere!

Post written by Meagen Chorney – Nursing Instructor

Adapted and quoted from:
Lamonica, B., & Brennan, B. (2021). Recipient letter. Nursing Excellence Awards Committee.

The Applied Commerce and Management Education department is excited to present the 2021 Virtual ACME Awards Ceremony, to be held on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. CT.

Our students have had to adapt to a changing environment, while maintaining a high standard of academic achievement and they deserve to be recognized! Many of these awards would not be possible without the steadfast support of our donors and we are so grateful for their continuous support.

Watch the ceremony on Facebook at 5:30 p.m. on May 26 to honour and recognize our students for their tenacity and hard work.

If you cannot attend the event live, you can visit the RRC Facebook page to view the recording at your convenience after the live date.

Congratulations again to all award recipients!

View the ACME Awards Program ›

Join us

On Thursday of this week, our graduating Graphic Design and Communication Design classes are hosting Industry Day as a virtual event.

This is a chance to celebrate all of their hard work, meet some new people, catch up with friends, and more.

They’ve been working hard on this and are looking forward to connecting with you. Please consider joining us for part of your day on Thursday!

OUR VOICE / SHIFT – INDUSTRY DAY

Thursday, May 6 from 12pm-9pm
To see the schedule or join the event, click here.

Scheduled at various times throughout the event:

• Group sessions
• One-on-one chats
• Exhibition of student work

Please follow the updates on Instagram @rrcdesign21 and @shiftdesignshow for instructions and complete schedule of activities.

Grad Show website: https://2021.rrcdesignshow.ca/graphic-design/
Grad Show store: https://2021.rrcdesignshow.ca/shop/

Hope to see you there! Thank you for your support of our programs.

There is a motto attributed to a few business leaders like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Lee Iaccoca that basically says “hire smart people and get out of their way”. The last class of the Entrepreneurship Practicum course in the Business Administration program at RRC just demonstrated why this might be accurate.

For decades, Entrepreneurship Practicum served as the capstone course for the program. Over 30 teams of 10-15 students from all of the RRC campuses poured themselves into the creation of a business plan, which they ultimately displayed via a booth at the highly anticipated tradeshow, as well as by delivering an oral presentations to members of Manitoba’s business community. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and the organizational decisions to push the classroom online for the final year of the capstone course, a huge void was created in how to allow the students to demonstrate the culmination of their studies in the program. With the in-person oral presentations not possible, and a tradeshow being out of the question, the instructors in the program had to come up with a solution.

The solution for the presentations was easy, move them to Webex for a virtual presentation. These went as smoothly as any presentations could be with over 300 students, nearly 40 judges and 10 facilitators. The groups demonstrated their skills and knowledge to the business community in an impressive manner. However the trade-show aspect was still missing. The instructors scrambled quickly to create a virtual assignment that would allow students to demonstrate their business concept without having people gather. The replacement assignment was to create a 2 minute long video demonstrating the 4 “P’s” of marketing, (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) for their business concept. Essentially it was for the groups to create an infomercial.

The video was not an easy thing to pull off, as the groups are not made of experienced videographers, actors, directors, editors, or animators. The groups also could not get together in person, and their budgets were near zero. Add in the fact that this portion of the project amounted to only 10 percent of their grade, and the expectation was that the videos were going to be “OK” at best. Here is the part where “getting out of smart people’s way” comes in to play.

Many of the videos created were professional quality, extremely creative, covered the required material, were uplifting and demonstrated the wherewithal of our student body. Rather than do the bare minimum, students went out of their way to create something that captured the essence of their abilities. They created a 2 minute video that encapsulated their knowledge, hard-work, creativity and most importantly their spirit in trying times! The future of Manitoba business is in good hands as demonstrated by the class of 2021 – all we have to do is get out of their way.

Please click on the logos below to watch the videos created by students.

Video Links

The Health Promotion of Older Adults in Community Clinical has had another rewarding and unique rotation during the pandemic. Connecting with our community areas, stakeholders, and older adults living in the community has been creative and completely online!

From January 27 – February 25, 2021 both Teri Lyn Healy’s student nurses and my group of student nurses worked in the Transcona area of Kildare Redonda. These 2 dedicated groups of student nurses met with community resources teams and connected one on one with volunteer older adults living in apartment blocks…all via phone and Zoom!

Zoom meetings were empowering for all of us, as Colleen Tackaberry, the Transcona Senior Resource Coordinator, and Lorna Shaw from the Health Aging Resources Team (HART) shared key findings from surveys conducted, revealing the impact of the pandemic on emotional wellness leading to social isolation. This was echoed during the students’ health assessment completed with their individual older adult clients.

Both student nurse groups collaborated and prioritized the need for educational powerpoints over the last 3 clinical weeks via Zoom. First, the Windshield Survey provided key census statistics of the Kildare Redonda area with the focus on the older adult.

Next, my group presented on Brain and Memory Wellness for the community older adults that are a group that meet weekly via Zoom, hosted by Colleen Tackaberry. There was strong community participation with 18 – 25 people total for both meetings.

Teri Lyn’s group of student nurses presented on emotional wellness, again via Zoom for community older adults, hosted by Colleen. Both groups provided access to these powerpoints as well as community resources and strategies handouts to the Transcona Seniors Resources team.

Student Quote:

This clinical rotation allowed me to expand my nursing skills outside of physical care. Although the pandemic COVID-19 restrictions made it impossible to perform physical assessments, it allowed me to enhance my therapeutic communication skills by curating individualized patient care, focusing on clients’ feelings and specific needs. With multiple group projects involved in the course, working alongside my clinical group provided several opportunities to collaborate and learn from one another. Another positive aspect of this clinical rotation was connecting with the older adult population via Zoom, providing an Emotional Health and Wellness presentation. We were able to bond with this population and provide a positive message during this time of uncertainty. – Maricel Damaso, SNRRC

Both groups of older adults were engaged, sharing their own experiences and coping strategies for both in-services and offered many words of praise to the student nurses. These powerpoints provided the student nurses the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, current research, communication skills while empowering the older adults in community! We also recognize the incredible resilience of each of these older adults as they manage multiple health issues, the effects of social isolation on mental health, and learning new ways to connect within their own community. Both groups of student nurses commended the community members and Colleen for advocating to stay connected and positive!

– Diane Ammeter

Client Feedback:

“I thought the phone visits were very enjoyable, they have been great to have someone to talk to and that wants to get to know you. Great idea during COVID, keep it up.”

“Overall, the phone visits went well, It would have been nice to meet in person but these are strange times and better to be safe, it can be lonely so the weekly calls were always something to look forward to, she’s going to make a great nurse.”

Overall the clients of East Park Lodge enjoyed the experience of talking with a student nurse weekly, reviewing their health status as well as social and physical health concerns, and completing educational teaching sessions with the students. After the rotation was completed I followed up with the clients.

– Teri-Lyn Healy

Post written by Diane Ammeter and Teri-Lyn Healy – Nursing Instructors

The following are responses from Suzanne Lahr, a graduate of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Where do you work and what’s your current position?

I’m an Event Coordinator at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg.

What are three career steps you’ve taken since graduating from Red River College?

1. Completed my bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Resort Management at the University of Calgary.
2. Held various positions with Delta Hotels across Western Canada.
3. Refreshed my skills and education with various courses, including MTEC, ATEC, and other certificate courses.

What’s a highlight of your professional life after graduation?

My biggest highlights have been working on the 2014 JUNOS Gala Dinner and Awards, and the 2015 Grey Cup Festival.

How did your time at Red River College help you achieve your goals?

The practical and hands-on knowledge that I received at Red River College, along with the ongoing support from the faculty, has been invaluable.