Lenora Brace has been a Primary Health Care Family All Ages Nurse Practitioner (NP) since 2006. Advocacy for and integration with sustainability for nurse practitioners in the Canadian Health Care System is her passion.

Lenora was a co-chair of the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Nova Scotia. She has maintained her political advocacy locally and provincially by meeting with MLAs and by presenting to caucus. She lobbied for legislative changes to NP regulation in her province.

She enjoys being a NP student preceptor and is committed to encouraging students to advance the NP role. Lenora actively seeks language change to promote public and system understanding of the full scope and ability of NPs.

Erin Sarrazin has been a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner since 2015. She is currently working in a Primary Care practice in Nova Scotia. She has a special interest in Women’s Heath and Transgender Health Care and runs a contraception clinic for her local community and has collaborated with the Halifax Sexual Health Clinic to help reduce their wait times for hormone therapy for transgender patients. 

She completed her BScN from Dalhousie University in 2003 and her MN in Health Policy from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2012. She then went on to pursue a post master NP and certificate in Global Health from Dalhousie University. She began her career in Cold Lake, Alberta as a contractor for the military and subsequently completed contracts in Trenton and Kingston, Ontario before returning to her home province of Nova Scotia in 2019. During her time in Alberta she was a Director at Large for NPAA. She was also part of the planning committee for the ICN NP/APN Network Conference 2021. 

She is looking forward to combing her interest in health policy and her experiences working in several provinces for both federal and provincial organizations from West to East in advocating for Nurse Practitioner roles across Canada.

Kaitlyn is a nurse practitioner (NP) student, studying full-time at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). Concurrently, she is completing a thesis project examining the role of nurse practitioners in preventing hospital readmissions and emergency department use for patients with complex care needs. Kaitlyn is a student member of the UNB Faculty of Nursing Graduate Curriculum Committee, whereby she serves to advocate for Master of Nursing students and advise on curriculum and program design. She has also worked as a research assistant during her undergraduate and master’s degrees.

As a student, Kaitlyn is passionate about advancing the role of NPs and advocating on behalf of her peers. She is dedicated to her studies and an active volunteer in the community, serving on the Saint John Police Force Victim Services Unit. For fun, Kaitlyn enjoys exploring the beautiful province of New Brunswick with her dog, Emilio.

Angela Spence-Bedard  is a Cree speaking Nurse Practitioner (NP). Her passion entails providing exceptional healthcare for all her clients/patients, especially Indigenous peoples, and to promote NP services in the most vulnerable communities. This is an on-going lived experience. Graduated in 2008 with a Master of Nursing, a northern nurse for 27 years practicing in remote indigenous communities across 4 provinces. Over the years she has embraced many roles in nursing; manager and nurse-in-charge with First Nation community health clinics, nurse mentor for RN, NP, and MD students, participant (past board of director) in national and provincial committees such as the Indigenous Nurses Association of Canada and the Nurse Practitioner Association of Ontario. Angela is co-owner of a private consulting business for 18 yrs. Angela was profiled in the Canadian Nurses Association:

Nurse Practitioner Profiles

https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/nursing-practice/the-practice-of-nursing/advanced-nursing-practice/nurse-practitioners/nurse-practitioner-profiles

Investing the time to care for communities: A holistic approach to health

https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/CNA/Files/EN/PHC_2013_h-Investing_the_Time_e.pdf

April Steele has been a Primary Health Care/Family All-Ages Nurse Practitioner since 2010. Since becoming an NP, she has worked in various health care settings across Alberta, Canada; working in rural community health centers, inner city community health centre models and as a sole proprietor since 2018.

She just finished completing a Doctorate in Nursing Practice degree, with her primary research focus on reducing Mental Illness Healthcare Provider Stigma in rural Indigenous primary care. April currently is the Co-chair of the Alberta Pain Strategy Working Group. Her interests lie in education, advocacy and knowledge translation into clinical practice. She looks forward to reaching out to all NPs across Canada to develop, disseminate and refine NP professional continuous education through helping NPs to be on the leading edge of relevant, quality patient-centred healthcare.

Jinelle Woodley has been a seniors health Nurse Practitioner for 9 years. She is currently working on a Geriatric Specialty Services team providing consultative care and provider education.  Jinelle has pursued 2 years of the PhD in Nursing program at the University of Victoria and completed a Masters in Nursing-Nurse Practitioner at the University of Victoria and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of British Columbia.

Jinelle has served as chair of the Vancouver Island Health Authority Nurse Practitioner Community of Practice, lead of the North Island Seniors Nurse Practice Group, mentor to new gerontological Nurse Practitioners, and preceptor to students.

Jinelle is inspired to contribute to the advancement of Nurse Practitioner practice, with an interest in national credentialing and recognized specialty education and roles.