Sudbury nurse receives award for five decades of service

A Sudbury nurse has been recognized for 57 years of service at the city's hospital.

Betty Ann Paradis received the lifetime achievement award from Health Sciences North during its inaugural Nursing Excellence Awards.

Awarded during Nurses Week, a total of six nurses received awards in various categories.

Paradis said she was shocked to receive the award and thought the email notification was fake.

She said she went to a nursing function and a colleague had asked her if she was attending the awards ceremony.

"I said 'which awards ceremony?' so she said 'I think you should be there.'"

Reflecting on her career, Paradis said when she was looking at potential paths, options were limited for women in the 1960s.

"There were three choices. You could become a teacher, secretary or a nurse," she said.

"I had always looked after people so I chose nursing, and I've never regretted it."

In 1979, Paradis took another step in her career: she raised her hand to be a part of the first hemophiliac program in Sudbury.

"I didn't know anything about it. But l said I'd do it, and I'm still doing that, so it was a good choice," she said.

Helping individuals with bleeding disorders has become an important part of her life's work.

Fostering a love of children, she went on to help kick-start a summer camp in Haliburton called Camp Wanikita. The camp teaches children with HIV and hemophilia how to safely inject themselves to encourage independence.

Paradis spent a week at the camp each summer for 30 years.

"The kids really loved it because they were integrated with other kids and the parents loved it because they were safe. It was winning on every side," she said.

Some of the campers loved it so much, they went on to become counsellors and help others. Paradis is also involved internationally and nationally with hemophilia.

Her colleague, Tammy Bourque, who has worked with Paradis for a decade, said she's well known for her work in the hemophiliac community.

LIKE A MOVIE STAR

"Travelling with Betty Ann is like travelling with a movie star because everyone knows her and wants to give her a hug," she said.

Paradis works at the HAVEN and hemophilia clinic at the Sudbury outpatient unit, and has been seeing some patients for decades.

Bourque said Paradis often makes cookies for her patients and treats them like family.

"She’s been with these families for decades. And when they come to clinic. They all have to hug her, she gives them cookies," she said.

"It's more of a family than more of a hospital."

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Paradis said she's extremely grateful to all who she's worked with over the years.

"You can't accomplish anything yourself. That award belongs to everyone," she said.

Paradis said she's never wanted to leave the profession.

"There was never not a time where I didn’t want to be a nurse," she said.