| Alice Lillian Wright A Brief Overview of her Life and Career |
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Alice Lillian Wright was born August 22, 1894, in Charlottetown, PEI, and died on March 15, 2000 (at age 105 years) in Vancouver, BC. She graduated from the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing in 1918. She was a niece of Dr. Robert E. McKechnie, a Vancouver physician, who was at this time Chancellor of the University of British Columbia; he was a strong supporter of the move to university education for nurses, and instrumental in the opening of the UBC School of Nursing, the first baccalaureate degree program in nursing in Canada |
Following graduation, Wright worked as a pediatric head nurse and pediatrics instructor at Vancouver General Hospital, then in hospitals in California and New York. She received her Bachelor of Science from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, in 1941. She also took a post-graduate course in pediatrics at New York Nursery and Children’s Hospital as well as a special course at the Kenny Institute, University of Minnesota. She was Registrar and Executive Director of the Registered Nurses Association of BC from 1943 to 1960. During that portion of her career, she initiated trail-blazing efforts to establish collective bargaining for nurses in BC and in Canada and is considered one of Canadian nursing’s pioneers in labor relations for nurses. She was named an Honorary Life Member of the Registered Nurses Association of BC in 1952 as a tribute for her pioneering work in labour relations for BC nurses and her efforts to improve standards of nursing education in the province. She was named an Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Nurses Association in 1962 for her pioneering labor relations work and for her many professional contributions nationally and internationally through the International Council of Nurses. She started collecting antique infant feeding devices during her early career and amassed a valuable collection that she donated to UBC Woodward Library Special Collections in 1965. Prepared for the University of BC Woodward Library librarians July 17, 2007. Information taken from materials written for the BC History of Nursing Group Archives by Glennis Zilm in February 2001; for further information, check BC History of Nursing Group Archives, Folder-05 Alice Wright Fonds.
Magazine article about Alice Wright |
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