Articles tagged "Health and Social Development"
Gift from dentalcorp to support critical skills shortage
August 27, 2021
With shortages of Certified Dental Assistants (CDAs) across Canada, dentalcorp is investing in a local solution with a gift to the Our Students, Your Health campaign. Canada's leading and fastest-growing network of dental practices, dentalcorp is giving $35,000 in support of a new dental clinic inside Ƶ's Health Sciences Centre. The modern clinic will educate CDAs for the Okanagan and beyond. “It’s important to our network and our industry as a whole to foster innovative, best-in-class professional development, among our ne...
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Skogie’s 50th anniversary adds shine to student experience
July 28, 2021
Skogie’s car washes are celebrating 50 years of business by making the ride for Ƶ students a little easier. For every year the family-run business has been in operation, Skogie’s is donating $1,000 to Ƶ — for a total of $50,000 in honour of their half-century anniversary. “We've hired a lot of Ƶ students over the years,” says David Skoglund, who founded the company in 1971. “We want to support young people and help them get ahead and we also wanted to give back to our community.” The gift wil...
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Alumnus gives dose of support to Pharmacy Technician students
July 16, 2021
The CEO of Catalyst Healthcare is giving Pharmacy Technician students a dose of support with a gift to the Our Students, Your Health campaign. Shane Bishop, founder and CEO of Catalyst Healthcare, is donating $30,000 in support of Ƶ’s Health Sciences Centre on the Kelowna campus. Bishop spent his first two years of post-secondary at the College, and the gift is his way of paying it forward to the organization and its students. “Ƶ provides access to future careers and I wanted to be part of supporting studen...
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Oral surgeons give to thank Certified Dental Assistants
July 6, 2021
A local oral surgery group with offices in Kelowna and Vernon is investing in the education of Certified Dental Assistants (CDAs) with a gift to Ƶ’s Our Students, Your Health campaign. Dr. Richard Bell, Dr. Russell Naito and Dr. Tom White of Okanagan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates are donating $30,000 to support a state-of-the-art dental clinic in the College’s new Health Sciences Centre. The surgeons say the gift is a way to recognize and celebrate the work of their current staff and past employees. “We want to...
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Alumni Association honours essential workers; provides support to next generation
April 12, 2021
For 18 years, the Ƶ Alumni Association (OCAA) has honoured OC graduates whose extraordinary contributions have positively impacted those close to home and around the world. In a year like no other and for the first time in the awards’ history, the OCAA is celebrating multiple recipients of this prestigious award: essential workers. “This year we decided to do things a little differently and honour all alumni who have been working hard in our community to keep us all safe,” says OCAA Vice President Nick Melemenis. “This pande...
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Long connection inspires major gift by Friesen family
March 22, 2021
A decades-long connection to Ƶ and a desire to give back to community is inspiring a $150,000 donation by the Friesen family to the Ƶ Foundation. The family gift will support the Our Students, Your Health campaign to complete and equip the College’s new Health Sciences Centre on the Kelowna campus. The gift reflects a strong connection to the College. Dianne Friesen worked at Ƶ in the mid-1970s. In 1984, her husband Rod started Voyager RV and their son Jason who is running the business is grate...
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Retired nurse donates $50k to Health Sciences Centre
March 11, 2021
Many things have changed since Delphine Stone went to nursing school more than 60 years ago, but she’s sure one element still holds true: the positive role education plays in one’s life. In honour of the value of education, Stone is donating $50,000 to the Our Students, Your Health campaign for a new Health Sciences Centre on the Kelowna campus. “Education really changed my life,” recalls Stone, who was the youngest of 11 children and grew up on a farm near Battleford, Saskatchewan. Stone remembers receiving a $100 award from the Hosp...
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Meet Jordan Boultbee, Kinesiology student
February 9, 2021
Q: What’s your hometown? A: Penticton, British Columbia. Q: How did you end up at Ƶ? A: I first began at Ƶ, back in 2013 the year following my graduation. I was playing junior hockey for the Penticton Vees, but wanted to keep my mind sharp, so I enrolled in a few college-level courses. I returned to Ƶ around 2015 in the Trades program, before finally realizing my passion and enrolling in the Human Kinetics program in 2018. Q: Ho...
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Meet Ty Sideroff, Kinesiology student
February 9, 2021
Q: What’s your hometown? A: I was born and raised in Summerland. Q: How did you end up at Ƶ? A: Exiting high school, I was unsure of what I wanted to do. I felt that the Ƶ in Penticton was a low-risk, high-reward option. Staying local was important to me, but it was also hard to argue with small class sizes, hands-on labs and affordable tuition. Q: How did you choose your program? A: I’ve always been fascinated by the human body and how it w...
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Giving to the health of the community
January 29, 2021
A retired Kelowna couple are donating $30,000 to Ƶ’s Health Sciences Centre to support the health of the community. Jim Hodgson and Joy Bianco are supporting the Our Students and Your Health Campaign with a gift they say recognizes their passion for the Okanagan. “Kelowna is a beautiful place. We’ve seen so many changes here for the positive, and it’s feels good to support the community,” says Bianco, who was born in Kelowna but spent her formative years in Vancouver. Bianco adds education has always been central to her f...
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Meet Pamela Rouse, Practical Nursing instructor
January 4, 2021
What is your education and experience? I was born in Vancouver and lived there until I moved to the Okanagan with my husband and two teenage children in 2010. I attended UBC and achieved my BScN and then specialized in orthopedics and adolescent medical/surgical care at B.C. Children’s Hospital. I worked there for 20 years prior to starting my teaching career in the Practical Nursing program at Vancouver Community College. I began working at OC on a term instructor basis in 2...
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OC’s Thurnheer sheds light on lessons from the pandemic in CPHR virtual roundtable
December 8, 2020
Laura Thurnheer, Ƶ’s Associate Dean of Science, Technology and Health, was one of four panelists on the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Canada virtual roundtable on Dec. 1. Titled, “In Conversation with HR Leaders,” the session saw human resources specialists from across Canada discuss next steps on workplace recovery from the pandemic, asking crucial questions around changes made in light of the pandemic, mental health and attracting and engaging talent. With close to 300 attendees, the event also gave thos...
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Revelstoke, Vernon student access improves with special Health Care Assistant program intake
November 23, 2020
Training for one of B.C.’s most in-demand professions is coming to Revelstoke and Vernon this January, in a special intake designed to make the most of Ƶ’s blended learning opportunities. “The need for health care assistants across B.C. has never been greater. Join the frontlines and be a health-care hero for our most vulnerable citizens while also building a career for yourself,” said Sandra Hohmann, Recruiter, Interior Health. The intake will feature OC’s signature hands-on learning in labs, allowing students to build the...
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Meet Mariah Perry
November 19, 2020
Tell us your full name! Mariah Perry What did you study at OC? I took the Practical Nursing Diploma program in Kelowna and graduated in June of 2019. What did you enjoy most about your program? There were so many things I loved about the Practical Nursing program. I loved how fast it was. It took just less than two years to complete and it was very reassuring knowing that once I graduated there were so many job opportunities out there that I could start right away. I was ver...
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Jacobs support frontline health care education with a major gift
November 13, 2020
Touring Ƶ’s new Health Sciences Centre and seeing the modern education spaces that will help attract and retain health care professionals compelled a well-known Kelowna family to give a major gift. Mike and Kim Jacobs are donating $80,000 to the Our Students, Your Health campaign to support the completion of the $18.9 million Health Sciences Centre. The state-of-the-art Centre will educate eight frontline health care professions. “It’s incredible to see such a modern facility with all the technology and great detail put int...
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Student has clear vision to graduate as Health Care Assistant
October 27, 2020
Fifty-two-year-old Jacquie Thom can feel victorious as she graduates as a Health Care Assistant (HCA) from Ƶ this month. Thom is legally blind and was born with an eye condition called coloboma. She describes her vision as blurry and like seeing through a tunnel. Yet despite her vision impairment, she was inspired to pursue a career caring for the elderly after taking care of her parents when they were palliative. “Supporting my parents showed me that it is such an honour to help someone through that period of time just bef...
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