New nurses take custom Anishinaabe pledge

By  Mike Stimpson  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter FORT FRANCES – Some things about Florence Nightingale weren’t so great, so the nurses’ pledge named after the 19th-century caregiver was problematic. That, in a nutshell, is the explanation for the Seven Generations Education Institute (SGEI) replacing the Nightingale Pledge with a pledge tailored to its Indigenous nursing grads. The pledge this year’s new crop of SGEI-trained nurses took at a pinning ceremony in Fort Frances was drafted to reflect Anishinaabe culture. “The need for the custom pledge was identified by our post-secondary director, Angela Mainville,” Jana-Rae Yerxa, curriculum developer for SGEI, told NWO Newswatch. “It was unsettling that our nursing graduates were reciting the Florence Nightingale Pledge. “Although Nightingale is a celebrated figure in the nursing profession, the reality is that she…

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