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Register as an RRC Student or RRC Staff on Eventbrite

Our third annual BTM TalentMash is brought to you by ITAC Talent, a Division of the ITAC (Information Technology Association of Canada), our Breakfast and Lunch Sponsor: 24-7 Intouch, and Red River College.

The event is set for Monday, October 21, 2019 at CanadInns Destination Centre Polo Park.  We will start the day off with keynote speaker Gord Gibben, followed by breakout sessions with Adam Hendrickson, Ben Goldstein, and Karen Allardice.  Our MC for the day is Kathy Knight, CEO, from ICTAM.  In the afternoon attendees can network and visit our exhibitor booths, followed by a panel presentation.

Attendees will include industry, RRC Staff, and around 200 of our BTM students.  We would love to see you there!

Register to attend as a business delegate here:  Business Delegate Registration

Congratulations!

It’s been a long road that at times you probably thought would never come, but you did it!  Congratulations to each and every one of you.  A night well deserved and a standing ovation is the least we can do to show how honored we are in your achievement.  We know the sacrifices and all the hard work that went into your Bachelor of Nursing journey here at Red River College.

Congratulations to Chris Hofer for winning the ARNM gold medal presented by Loreley Fehr, President-Elect, Association of Registered Nurses of Manitoba.

Thank you to all the Pinning Ceremony Committee members for a great night!

Thank you to Darin Brecht, Acting President and CEO of Red River College; RaeAnn Thibeault; Dean of School of Health Sciences and Community Services; Patrick Griffith, Chair of Nursing; and Cindy Boughen, BN Program Coordinator for your words of wisdom!

Thank you to Natasha Kuchta; the 2018 Gold Medal Recipient for your words welcoming our grads of 2019 to our profession of Nursing!

Thank you Sarah Alcock for your graduate Address, and yes you’ll finally see a paycheck!

Thank you Soul Sanctuary for hosting our 2019 Bachelor of Nursing Pinning Ceremony!

Written by:

Nursing Lab Manager

A Program Information Evening will be held on:
Wednesday, November 27, 2019, 7 to 8:30 pm
Exchange District Campus, 160 Princess St.
Main Floor Lecture Theatre A104

This information evening for students, parents and high school staff who would like more information about admission to our program. No need to register. The evening will begin with a presentation in the lecture theatre at 7 pm.
After the presentation we invite you to:
• tour our design studios,
• meet with instructors, and current students,
• ask questions about the entrance portfolio
• view samples of work.

A pdf invitation is available for download here.

For more information contact: Diane Livingston, Program Coordinator at dlivingston@rrc.ca.  

Chantelle shares her experience and insight since graduating from the BN program in 2018:

Where are you now?

General Duty Nurse on the Women’s Health Relief Team at Women’s Hospital. Being part of the relief team gives me the opportunity to learn and care for patients ranging from perinatal, gynecology, post-partum, labor and delivery, post-surgical gynecology, oncology and everything in between. I absolutely love it.

How easy was it to find a job after graduation?

I was offered a position while still a nursing student doing my senior practicum.

How did you manage the responsibility of going from student to nurse?

It was quite intimidating to be honest. I didn’t think of what that would be like as a student. Once I was transitioned from student to nurse, I felt very well supported by other nurses. I felt comfortable to ask questions and had guidance. Many of the nurses I was familiar with as I had met them and worked with them through my senior practicum or had graduated with them.

How did you build your confidence as a new nurse?

I asked questions. Lots and lots of questions. At first, I thought it made me seem incompetent but a fellow nurse explained that I should NEVER feel that I couldn’t ask questions. It was a little difficult at first to ask questions but once I did, it became easier for me. It also helped me build my confidence and my independence.

Thinking back, what were the most important lessons from school that you took into the workforce?

Of course time management and prioritizing is important, but most of all.. SELF CARE!

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were a student?

The workplace environment is forever changing and things can get very hectic and change in a matter of seconds and you need to be able to turn on your thinking cap quickly and adjust your care accordingly. You will always have other nurses and staff members there to help you. You need to find your voice and be confident. As a student, I thought about the scary things that can happen and I thought all the pressure would be on me but that’s not the case at all. You’re part of a team and you will learn to trust each other’s expertise and learn as you go. It’s honestly an ongoing learning experience.

What piece of advice would you give to current students?

Please ask for help when you need it, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and your patients, make sure you set time aside for self care, and remember that mistakes can and do happen, and that’s okay ! Its not “win or lose” .. think of it as “win or learn.”

Thank you Chantelle for sharing your experience and words of wisdom!

Each year, the Step Out of Your Box (SOYB) committee reviews the application pieces and selects four students to receive one of the four awards of $500 each.

SOYB program gives students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge in our community while enhancing their interpersonal, communication, critical thinking, and leadership skills.

Students who participate in this program explore a dimension of diversity that is different from themselves by volunteering at a community organization. After seven hours (minimum), they create a “leave-behind” project that showcases their abilities and benefits a local volunteer organization. As part of their reflection document, students describe what they did, how this experience impacted them, and how they will carry this experience forward in their personal and professional lives.

This year, four Nursing students were selected to receive the awards:

L to R: Mallory, Cassie, Thi
Not Pictured: Danielle

Thi Nguyen:
Volunteer Organization: Main Street Project: Men’s Detoxification and Stabilization Unit
Dimension(s) of Focus: Males and addictions
Leave-Behind project: Halloween themed Bingo night

Thi’s concluding Thoughts:
It helped me stand out my comfort zone to open with others; especially men…. Challenging myself is necessary to be successful. Volunteering at Men’s detox helped me gain my experiences when contacting with men. I saw how staff communicated and treated to men. I saw different angles of the way of thinking, how they expressed their emotion, feeling and their goals of life. The most important thing is I can overcome my fear while being among men. I was able to play cards with them comfortably. My heart was melted and touched after listening to their stories. Being among men gave me an opportunity to understand more about myself. I received immense support from staff and a volunteer coordinator, and although I was shy at first, I quickly learned that people were there to help me in any way they could. Diversity is greatly valued and each individual has a voice. I have consistently felt that my ideas were valued and credited; in the long term, this has helped me build confidence.

Mallory Shewfelt:
Volunteer Organization: Main Street Project: Men’s Detoxification and Stabilization Unit
Dimension(s) of Focus: Males and addictions
Leave-Behind project: Halloween themed Bingo night

Mallory’s concluding thoughts:
I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try to gain new perspective for people facing addiction, many homeless who live on the streets of Winnipeg…This experience will greatly impact my practice as a future nurse. I will no longer see people who are homeless as lazy addicts who would rather spend their time asking for money rather than going to find a job. Now what I will see is people who have had some difficult life experiences, many dealing with painful trauma and struggle with the disease of addiction….I now believe there is no difference in emotional ability for either female or males. I will use the same therapeutic communication techniques regardless of sex or gender. This experience has also sparked my interest in possibly wanting to help individuals who struggle with addiction as a registered nurse. For the time being, I plan to still volunteer at Main Street Project while I finish my Bachelor’s degree of nursing, which is not something I anticipated prior to the Step Out of Your Box Program.

Prizes from Bingo Night

Danielle Rasmussen:
Volunteer Organization: Sunshine House
Dimension(s) of Focus: Transgender community
Leave-Behind project: Family Christmas party

Danielle’s concluding thoughts:
Before this experience I would just try to ignore or avoid the fact that someone was transgender in hopes to avoid offending anyone if I had said the wrong thing. This experience has taught me that it is okay to ask questions if I am confused or unsure of something. Clarification is better than making assumptions about someone. After talking to this individual, I was able to feel comfortable socializing with some of the other people visiting the drop-in center… As a nurse I can reflect on this experience remembering the struggles that someone who is transitioning goes through, so that I can be compassionate to their feelings and have empathy for them in the process…

Having a culturally sensitive and diverse nursing workforce allows patients to seek help with their health issues without the fear of being judged or rejected. It is a common human feeling that when we think someone will be judging us we often want to tweak our stories so that they don’t sound as bad. I believe that in order for this to happen, though, it needs to be a team effort with all of the medical staff. When all the staff are working together on the same team caring for patients, patient care will go much more smoothly.

Cassie Oliver:
Volunteer Organization: Sunshine House
Dimension(s) of Focus: Transgender and non-binary persons
Leave-Behind project: Family Christmas party

Cassie’s concluding thoughts:
Originally, my lack of experience and understanding of transgender individuals led to negative views, but now I realize that it does not matter how people identify. It does not affect me personally. I learned that, as I am not transgender or non-binary, it would be difficult to understand the struggles that transgender people face, however, that does not mean I need to add to the struggles. I am accepting of all individuals regardless of my understanding of their background and circumstances now….Prior to this experience I was also afraid of misgendering someone, however it was quite easy to avoid. When faced with someone who was of ambiguous gender, I used the person’s name, until they self-identified as trans. I learned it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be, and most people are quite forgiving if you make an honest effort.

I have realized that nonbinary individuals struggle immensely with the healthcare system, through my conversations at Sunshine House and do not want to contribute to this. After hearing the stories of misgendering, and how traumatic it is to be faced with the biologic sex identifiers, as well as having health professionals address them as their sex at birth, I think advocacy will also be important. It is important that the nursing workforce is sensitive to culture and is diverse to meet patient needs as no two patients are alike. As nurses, we serve patients across all cultures, genders, and sexual orientations. We must be aware of cultural and social differences to treat the patient holistically. …Validating and accepting patients for who they wish to be is an important aspect in holistic care.

Christmas Party

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this program! Your contributions to these community organizations are immeasurable.

Instructors – If you’re looking for an alternative to the research paper or test, want to add new insights and dimensions to class discussions, reduce stereotypes, and facilitate cultural and racial understanding, consider incorporating this program into your course. For more information, contact the Mentorship Program Coordinator at soyb@rrc.ca or 204.632.3847 or visit rrc.ca/mentorship-awards.

Post written by Vera Godavari – Mentorship Program Coordinator

Project Term: Summer 2019

TAIV enables business owners to create, schedule and play their own TV advertisements instead of the commercials that appear during the broadcast. This helps establishments create a targeted audience and drive sales. During the summer term at the ACE Project Space, a team of students completed a number of enhancements to improve the user experience. Read More →

Project Term: Summer 2019

The ACE Project Space required a robust and scalable application to better manage change and incident requests, assets and those using them. The system that was in use was clunky and did not provide the full range of functionality that the Change Advisory Board (CAB) was looking for. A student team at the ACE Project Space went about designing the application from scratch. The purpose was to deliver a working application with asset, user and change management functionality by the end of the four-month term. Completing the application was accomplished through extensive research and learning through Lynda, Code Academy and Udemy as well as collaboration with the RPI research group. Read More →

Project Term: Summer 2019

Red River Bookstore has been operating for decades and has amassed a huge inventory of used books, comics, music, movies, video games and other miscellaneous items. With such a large inventory and very little online presence, the bookstore staff could not meet the growing demands without integrating digital solutions. ACE Project Space students worked with the bookstore to gather their requirements, and then build viable solutions to help the business manage its inventory. Read More →

Project Term: Summer 2019

The Manitoba Genealogical Society (MGS) organizes and archives information about the lives of Manitobans and their family relationships. In a previous term at the ACE Project Space, students helped to build the consolidated Manitoba Name Index (MANI) service to provide a central source for searching genealogical data. During the summer term, a new team of students worked on improvements to the MANI codebase and delivered a number of enhancements to improve the user experience and create new revenue generation opportunities. Read More →