ASSOCIATE MEMBER RECEIVES PHD

Aboriginal Nurse, The, Jul 2006

Working with and for Aboriginal people and their communities has been a significant element of Dawn Smith's career. After her graduation in 1987 with a BScN from the University of British Colombia, Dawn Smith set east to Montreal to enter the realm of the nursing profession. In 1995, Ms. Smith obtained her Master's Degree in nursing from Dalhousie University. She has recently completed a PhD in Population Health at the University of Ottawa.

Dawn Smith is passionate about her work with Aboriginal people and their health. Working as a CHR in northern B.C. early in her career gave her new insight regarding the health care system in Canada. She wanted to know why Aboriginal communities had lower statistics of good health than other groups in Canada. The intentions of the Canadian health care system were good but seemed to work best for urbanites and not so much for the Aboriginal people living in rural areas. Mothers had to deal with inadequate housing, nutrition and security. Dawn decided to focus her attention on early childhood development for she knew the first few years of a child's life were crucial to his/her future health. This experience led her to policy and population health as the focus of her PhD studies.

For her dissertation, Dawn concentrated her attention on two Aboriginal groups working within their populations to determine how to improve the conditions of health. She found that their initiatives were leading more pregnant women to prenatal care and the care they received was relevant to their individual needs.

Now an assistant professor of community health at the University of Ottawa, Dawn encourages her nursing students to venture into Aboriginal communities to complete their practicum instead of the usual hospital in an urban area.

We are very proud of the work that Dawn Smith has done for Aboriginal communities. She has had great mentors in her life and she is most definitely an important role model to many to the students making their way into her classroom and the nursing profession.