Brandon nurses honoured for excellence

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This article was published 23/05/2025 (309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Brandon nurses have received provincial awards of excellence from the Association of Regulated Nurses of Manitoba for contributions they’ve made as mentors and managers.

Kathy Ward and Rinautta McConnell both say they were “called to the profession,” but at different times and for different reasons.

Ward graduated from the Brandon General Hospital School of Nursing in 1988 and started out as a front-line nurse whose “heart was always in the intensive care unit.”

Today, Ward is the manager of the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre, the Dauphin Community Cancer Program and the regional palliative care program for Prairie Mountain Health. She also led the health region’s clinical education and infection control programs and was manager of the 60-bed inpatient medicine unit at Brandon Regional Health Centre.

When Ward found out she was ARNM’s 2025 recipient of the legacy award for professional nursing excellence, she said she was humbled.

“I always look at this as the team approach,” Ward said. “It’s never look what I did or look how I did this. It’s a matter of how can we improve things. From when I started nursing, I always thought: Leave it better than how you found it. And that doesn’t mean it was a disaster when you got there. It means you see opportunity for change or a chance to improve things from a patient perspective.”

McConnell’s award for excellence is in the nursing education category. Her title at PMH is regional clinical educator, and she was quick to downplay accolades, with the reminder she is one of many educators within the health region.

Nursing is McConnell’s second career. She was a pharmacy technician working in BRHC when she felt the pull. After seeing nurses at work, she decided to take her bachelor of nursing and graduated in 2017.

“You go into the nursing profession for a reason — ultimately, you do care for others,” said McConnell.

“When you move through your career and into leadership and mentorship roles, it’s a great opportunity to support and help bring up the next generation of nurses who are coming into the profession,” she said.

“You’re taking some of the things you learned as a new grad just entering the workforce and sharing some of your knowledge to help them. And that’s really fulfilling. That’s what’s really rewarding about this role.”

ARNM is the professional association representing licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, graduate nurses, nursing students and former registered nurses in Manitoba.

The annual ARNM awards recognize excellence in various nursing categories, including acute care, rural nursing and community nursing.

Ward and McConnell were two of the 18 professionals who were nominated and then honoured for their achievements. They received their hardware at a ceremony last week in Winnipeg, said Joyce Kristjansson, executive director of ARNM.

“Excellence means you are good at your job, respected by your colleagues and contributing to the teamwork. So, we try and find ways to honour nurses who are doing an excellent job,” Kristjansson said.

“We need nurses and other health professionals, but nurses are the biggest component, so it’s really important that they are — and feel — recognized,” she said.

Prairie Mountain CEO Treena Slate sent her kudos to Ward and McConnnell.

“We congratulate Rinautta and Kathy on their award recognitions,” Slate wrote in an email to the Sun. “Prairie Mountain Health expresses gratitude to all our health-care staff who continue to serve our patients, residents, and clients with unwavering dedication, care, and compassion.”

Ward and McConnell said they have only known each other about eight years, but when they speak, it’s with an easy professional rapport and a sense of mutual respect.

“I started my nursing career as a new grad in a medical flow pool position,” McConnell said, “and Kathy was the manager for that program.

“During my time on the medical unit as a clinical resource nurse, Kathy was also the manager at the time. Our paths may be diverged slightly, but we worked very closely and now we’re kind of running parallel in our positions.”

Ward joked that her legacy award was given because of the year she graduated.

“I’m the oldest one and they went by the process of elimination,” she said, as they both laughed.

Retirement was on Ward’s mind about five years ago, she said, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I had been the manager on (the medicine unit at BRHC), and I had always told the staff when we are done this redevelopment (project), I’m going to retire,” Ward said.

“And then COVID happened, and I just remember standing there looking at all of these young faces and thinking: Now is not the time. You cannot walk away. Walk beside your people,” she said.

Burnout is something both nurses said they have experienced, and they admitted there are always challenges in their jobs.

“When you come to work every day and still say I learned something today, you’re in the right place for the right reasons,” said Ward.

Health care is demanding, said McConnell, but being around good people who know what matters can be “tremendously impactful,” she added.

“You might be one person in a very large system, but you can’t underestimate the difference you can make in the trenches,” McConnell said.

“It’s hard, but it’s extremely rewarding when it aligns with your values and what you want to do in your career.”

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