NUMBER OF BURSARIES AWARDED IN 2023

190

TOTAL BURSARIES AWARDED SINCE 2012

2009

ANNUAL BURSARY
GOAL

$200,000

We are grateful to the RNFBC members, friends and board of the Foundation who have successfully built a substantial endowment fund. Revenue from the investments is difficult to predict in the current economic climate. Nevertheless, the Foundation has established a goal of providing at least $200,000 in bursaries each year to help support BC’s nurses and nursing students in their nursing education.

ABOUT THE RNFBC

The Registered Nurses Foundation of BC helps address some of the financial costs associated with nursing education for nurses and nursing students through the provision of bursaries. In doing so, we help alleviate some of the pressures on these nurses and the health care system and in these challenging times, this is increasingly important.

The demand for nurses is rising. Currently, on any given day in BC there are at least 1,000 nursing vacancies. These shortages mean the needed care that requires nursing support – such as surgical procedures, homecare, and mental health care services – get delayed or postponed.

With the aging of both the population and of nurses themselves, more new nurses will be needed to fill this gap as a person’s health care needs generally increase with age and as nurses reach retirement age.

The need to help educate new nurses and provide a higher level of education for current nurses has arguably never been greater.

We support both entry-level (undergrad) education and advanced degrees such as Masters and PhD level programs focused on preparing practicing nurses for advanced roles like nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists; educators; and researchers.

We also support programs of education approved by RNFBC Board of Directors or Bursary Committee that advances professional nursing practice (e.g. health education, public health, community nursing, informatics, administration, health care leadership, and research).

All Nursing Programs in BC have wait lists. Unfortunately, their ability to increase enrollment is compromised by under-funding and a growing shortage of nurse educators. We sincerely hope that our work in small part is helping to alleviate that shortage.

ADVANCING NURSING EXCELLENCE THROUGH EDUCATION

OUR VOLUNTEER BOARD

For over 40 years, the Registered Nurses Foundation of BC has come to rely on the passion and expertise of our board. This year is no exception! Although from different backgrounds within the nursing community, whether working at present or retired, the common thread our volunteer board members have is their dedication to all the Foundation can offer the Registered Nurses of BC in their pursuit of educational nursing excellence.

The RNFBC Annual General Meeting was held on June 26, 2023. Read the News article for highlights.

ABOUT THE RNFBC LOGO

The RNFBC Logo is modeled on a traditional origami Crane which symbolizes peace and good health. It was then designed to represent the values of the profession of nursing. The shape, form, and colour of the Crane support the integration of symbols important to nursing history. The wings of the Crane symbolize the wings of the traditional nursing cap. The colour of its wings and body symbolizes traditional nursing uniforms which were white and blue. The wings of the crane also symbolize flight and as such integrate the wings of the caduceus. And as wings are designed for flight, the wings in the Logo symbolize RNFBC’s mandate and focus on supporting nurses so they may ‘take flight’ and pursue their education.

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