to increase access to nursing education

“There’s no doubt that Thelma would have been on the frontlines of this pandemic. She absolutely would have wanted to be there.” When faced with challenges, Thelma Sieffert was the type of person to buckle down and get on with the job. Bruce Sieffert, Thelma’s nephew, remembers her as a no-nonsense but deeply compassionate woman.

Thelma was born in Vancouver in 1923. Not long after becoming a nurse, she worked hard to upgrade her skills with a Diploma in Public Health Nursing from UBC in 1956.

After the move into public health nursing, Thelma worked in several senior roles around Vancouver, including the Downtown Eastside. “It was the kind of environment she thrived in,” Bruce says. “She loved engaging people. Thelma just rolled up her sleeves in her very matter of fact and accepting way and did what needed to be done.”

Beyond providing service to some of Vancouver’s most vulnerable people, Thelma was an avid traveller – so much so that Bruce and his wife Rosalind often struggled to keep track of where in the world she was. Ever curious about the road less traveled, she loved to learn about different places and cultures and regale her family with tales of her adventures when she returned home to BC.

When Thelma passed away in 2015, the Sieffert family had the idea to create an endowment with the inheritance Thelma left them. “Thelma didn’t come from a wealthy background. She was all about fairness,” Bruce says. “That’s why our priority is to help the academically capable who might not otherwise have the resources necessary to enter the profession.”

Thelma was never one to seek out the spotlight, so the family sees the bursary as the perfect way to honour the memory of a woman who helped so many over the course of her life. “This is us shining the light on her.”

The bursary will be available to undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Nursing, and Bruce and Rosalind hope that it will remove financial barriers for students from all walks of life.

And with more and more students applying to study Nursing at UBC, the bursary comes along at a perfect time. “The pandemic has focused us all on the importance of healthcare. A few may have been scared off, but I hope more have been excited about the challenges. I know Thelma would have been.”