May 1, 1931 – August 16, 2017

A graduate of the VGH School of Nursing (1954) and UBC with degrees in Nursing (1955) and Adult Education (1970), Pat also achieved a Fellowship in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Her awards include a scholarship from the Canadian Nurses’ Foundation, a Queens Silver Jubilee Medal, Meritorious Award from the BC Health Association, RNABC Award of Distinction, Regents Award and Honorary Member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, RNFBC Honourary Membership, UBC Nursing Alumni Recognition, Recognition by the Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Conception, Honourary Member of the Canadian College of Healthcare Professionals, Honourary Life Member of the HealthCare Leaders Association, and was a charter member of the UBC Nursing Honour Society and Xi Eta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International.

Pat’s career was varied with roles as a Staff nurse, Supervisor, Instructor, Director of Ambulatory services and then Patient Services at VGH, Executive Director of the BC Health Association during a challenging time in healthcare in BC, a surveyor for the first Canadian Association on Accreditation, Clinical Professor in the UBC Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, and then was a Health Care Management Consultant for over 15 years.

As an innovative leader, Pat used her knowledge, skills and connections to deal with a wide variety of issues and challenges. Some of these included:

• Operational reviews at numerous acute care and long term care facilities located outside urban areas
• Accreditation surveys and education consultations for over 200 health care facilities in Canada
• Extensive consultation and on-site visits to health care facilities
• Organizational reviews and on-site patient care and resident care administration at several hospitals
• Extensive task force and committee work provincially and nationally
• Being a member of several hospital and foundation boards

Her many presentations and publications included the themes of strategic planning, patient care standards, communication, sharing of resources, staff development, continuing education and quality assurance are featured. A majority of these presentations were delivered at a time when the technology innovations that are taken for granted today were just being introduced.

In addition to these work assignments, Pat made time to be an active member of more than 16 local and national professional organizations filling a variety of committee and leadership roles:

• As President of the Registered Nurses Foundation, she was instrumental in ensuring that the Capital Campaign to increase funding for basic and continuing education nursing bursaries was a major success
• As President of the VGH School of Nursing Alumnae Association, she helped many others recognize the closure of the school after 99 years of preparing quality nursing graduates
• As the Chair of the UBC School of Nursing 80th Anniversary Committee, she led the celebration of the first degree granting school of nursing in the British Empire which was established in 1919.

Pat had so many unique qualities: her passion for nursing, the ability to assess a situation and devise an action plan was second nature to her, her background knowledge of issues ensured that changes were presented and accepted, her mentoring skills to guide those in need, and the amazing ability to recall details of people’s personal and professional lives.

Kathy Murphy
President, BC History of Nursing Society
President, Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association.