Lois A. Fairley Nurse of the Year
Community Service Award
Our 2018 Winner is Douglas Mercer!
Please join us for a celebration and awards presentation on Friday, May 4, 2018 at 11am in the lobby of the Windsor Regional Hospital – Ouellette Campus (1030 Ouellette Ave., Windsor ON N9A 1E1).
The award is named after Lois Fairley, who served at Grace Hospital from 1955 to 1993, including the roles of head nurse and mentor to nursing students. As provincial president of the Ontario Nurses Association, she was an advocate for the nursing profession and the patients in their care. She passed away in 2007.
We invite you to click on the wiki link to learn more about how one person made such a significant contribution to her profession and our community.
Congratulations to Past Winners
2016 – Marylynn Holzel
Award received April 2016
“We are proud to recognize Marylynn Holzel with our 2016 Lois Fairley Community Service Award. She exemplifies true professionalism and compassion in nursing,” says Dana Boyd, president of RNAO’s Windsor-Essex chapter. “This award allows us to recognized a nurse who goes above and beyond, and also to the legacy of Lois Fairley, who had an immeasurable impact on so many lives in Windsor-Essex.”
Holzel graduated from St. Clair College in 1984. She began her career in long-term care at Richmond Terrace before she was hired as a registered nurse (RN) at Hotel Dieu-Grace/Windsor-Regional Hospital, where she’s spent 31 years – she’s never left the Ouellette campus building, though it has changed names three times during her career. She started there in 1985 on a busy medical-surgical unit. She has also worked in pediatrics, spent the majority of her career on telemetry, and is currently working in ambulatory care.
2015 – Rita Di Biase
Award received April 2015
Rita Di Biase (Dee Bee as ee) is a Registered Nurse in the Cancer Program at Windsor Regional Hospital in Windsor, Ontario. A 1981 graduate of St. Clair College, she went on to earn her Bachelors of Nursing from the University of Windsor. Received Masters Nursing from Wayne State University, is board certified as a Nurse Practitioner in both Canada and the US and as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is also a Certified Hospice Palliative Care Nurse in Canada. Rita joined the Cancer Program in 2010 at Windsor Regional Hospital and is a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner. Rita has been nursing at IODE, VON, CCAC and the Karmanos Cancer Centre in Michigan.
Congratulations Rita!
2014- Eva Lewis
Award received April 2014
Eva Lewis is a well-known Kingsville nurse who has spent her 43-year career at the Leamington hospital. She currently works in the outpatient surgical unit. Eva Lewis recalls that she had always known she wanted to be a nurse for and has no plans to retire. Eva has touched many patients’ lives with her compassionate care and dedication. “She is the definition of compassion,” her manager Colleen Lopez said Wednesday at Leamington District Memorial Hospital.
Congratulation Eva!
2013 – Shauna Carter
Shauna is a Nurse Practitioner for the NP-led Outreach Program at HDGH. The NP-led Outreach Program facilitates NP’s working with care home staff to assess sick residents and determine how best to care for them. In addition to Shauna’s work with the NP-led Outreach Team, she continues to work for VON, as an NP for the Pelee Island Medical Clinic. Shauna is also on the board of directors for Essex County Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic.