Toronto Disaster Relief Committee Co-Founder Cathy Crowe, RN To Receive
International Nursing Award in Amsterdam
Toronto's famous Street Nurse, Cathy Crowe, will receive a Human Rights and
Nursing award on October 5th 2003 in
Amsterdam, Holland.
The award is being presented by Nursing Ethics and the International Centre
for Nursing Ethics (ICNE). Another
nurse, Mpho Sebanyoni-Motlhasedi, who gives her nationality as "African"
will receive the award as well.
Cathy has gained her reputation on the streets of Toronto by advocating
with and treating the injuries of the cities
homeless population.
In 2001, she received an Honorary Doctor of Science in Nursing from the
University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Some of her work was highlighted in the documentary film "Street Nurse",
directed by Emmy and Gemini
award-winner Shelly Saywell.
In regards to the award, Cathy says "homelessness is a violation of the
most basic human rights ? the right to
housing. I am so honoured by this international nursing recognition and it
will fuel my determination to keep working for
the end to homelessness in Canada."
-30-
For more information:
Beric German, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee
416-921-8668 ext. 238 (w)
The International Centre for Nursing Ethics website can be found at:
http://www.freedomtocare.org/iane.htm
More information on the conference at which the award will be presented can
be found at:
http://www.freedomtocare.org/page5a.htm
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Cathy Crowe, "Street Nurse"
Cathy Crowe is a Nurse Practitioner at Queen West Community Health Centre
in downtown Toronto. She has
worked in the area of homelessness since 1988.
She prefers to be called a Street Nurse ? a term coined about 10 years ago
by a homeless man at the corner of Sherbourne
and Dundas in downtown Toronto. She points out that at that time there
were only 4 or 5 street nurses in Toronto, perhaps
even Canada, compared to probably 100 now, from Victoria to Halifax. That
in itself makes a powerful statement about the
extent of homelessness.
Cathy obtained her diploma in nursing from Toronto General Hospital in
1972, her Bachelor of Applied Arts in Nursing from
Ryerson in 1985, and her Masters of Education (Sociology) from the Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education in 1992. In
June 2001 she received an Honorary Doctor of Science in Nursing from the
University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Cathy follows the pulse of health issues affecting homeless people and over
the years that has included reduced access to
health care, overall deteriorating health, the return of tuberculosis,
deplorable shelter conditions, and an escalating death
rate. Along with remarkable colleagues, homeless activists and friends she
has fostered numerous coalitions and advocacy
initiatives.
Most recently she and colleague Beric German co-founded the Toronto
Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) which in 1998
declared homelessness a National Disaster. The disaster campaign is a three
level campaign targeting federal, provincial and
municipal solutions to the homeless disaster and housing crisis. Its
signature 1% slogan refers to the demand that all levels of
government commit 1% of their budgets to an affordable housing.
Cathy is a frequent commentator and writer on issues related to
homelessness and teaches a course at Ryerson called
Homelessness in Canadian Society. A documentary film on her work titled
'Street Nurse' directed by Emmy and Gemini winner
Shelley Saywell has been produced and aired on the Women's channel in the
fall of 2002.
Citations for Human Rights and Nursing Awards 2003
At the conference jointly organised by Nursing Ethics and the International
Centre for Nursing Ethics (ICNE) in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, on 5 October 2003, two nurses received the Human Rights and
Nursing awards. The citations for the recipients follow:
Citation for Cathy Crowe
Cathy Crowe, RN and Street Nurse, said to an 'Inquiry on Homelessness and
Health' in Toronto in 1987: "I wash their feet, and it's
tragic and wrong that they have to have sore, injured, frostbitten and
infected feet. No-one in our rich society should have to suffer
such indignity and injustice". In all her years of working among homeless
people in Toronto, where the problem had steadily
increased, Cathy called for homelessness to be declared a National Disaster
on the same scale as floods and earthquakes. Her friends call Cathy a
national treasure, a mixture of love and tenacity, in the league of
international humanitarian leaders.
Cathy is determined to end the plight of homelessness in Canada. She
exhibits a profound respect for the homeless men and women
who struggle daily to survive. She is a major player in the '1% Solution'
campaign, which makes the point that in the mid-1990s,
federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments spent about one
percent of their budgets on housing. Since then,
governments have made substantial cuts. The 1% Solution calls on
governments to double their commitments to housing programmes by restoring
and renewing housing spending.
Citation for Mpho Sebanyoni-Motlhasedi
On her CV, Mpho gives her nationality as 'African'. One of her friends said
of her, 'if you want to make South Africa a better
country, learn from people like her'. While she has become associated with
one particular hospice, she has inspired people in the
whole of Africa and the international arena.
Mpho became a nurse in 1983. Her room mate during her training days
remembers that it was only Mpho who cared for a patient on a
surgical ward who had maggots. None of the others nurses were willing to
care for him. The patient offered Mpho a goat for her
troubles, but he died before he could fulfil his promise. Mpho was content
that she had managed to maintain his quality of life.
Another person said of Mpho that she is 'an outstandingly dedicated person
who leads by example, works taxingly long hours seven
days a week and who confronts head-on (and heart-on) the bitter realities
of AIDS and its impact on individuals, families and
children'. She had given up her salaried job to address the HIV/AIDS
problem in the community. She established the Moretele Sunrise
Hospice, which is the hub of care and counselling, skills development,
training for caregivers in 80 villages, support groups for
grannies, volunteers in the district, 15 satellites in rural communities,
and even a medicinal garden. As well as this, Mpho is now
studying for a degree in oncology.
http://www.freedomtocare.org/iane.htm
**********************************
1% 1% 1% 1% 1%....
For more information and to endorse the 1 % Solution,
visit our website at www.tdrc.net
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC)
6 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON M5G 1B1
Phone: 416-599-8372 Fax: 416-599-5445
EMAIL: [log in to unmask] WEBSITE: www.tdrc.net
To unsubscribe send one line: unsubscribe click4hp to: [log in to unmask] . To view archives or modify subscription see: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html
|
