Camosun launches nursing bursary
Camosun college students studying emergency nursing may be eligible for a new bursary, which commemorates long-time emergency room nurse Irene McKinlay, who recently passed away. McKinlay’s family and colleagues donated over $24,000 to the Camosun College Foundation toward the new Irene McKinlay Memorial Nursing Bursary. The first annual $1,000 bursary will be awarded this fall to an eligible second-year, full-time Camosun nursing student in good academic standing who can demonstrate financial need and is pursuing a career in emergency nursing. Prospective applicants can find more info at camosun.ca/bursaries, while interested donors can visit camosun.ca/foundation. The application period for students opens on September 8.
Camosun students develop new LED strobe-light technology
Three Camosun Electrical and Computer Engineering students have developed a new strobe light technology in response to an extracurricular challenge. Rylen Enger, Miles Krakowec Tickner, and Joseph Letang worked for a year to develop the new light. Compared to older models that used incandescent bulbs and were limited in their range of output, this new light uses long-lasting LED bulbs, and its custom-programmed software allows high flexibility of the strobe output intensity and patterns. Unlike commercial strobes, which can cost thousands of dollars, the new technology cost less than $100. The inventors have decided to gift the new light to the Camosun Physics department for future generations of Camosun students to use.
BC government contributes $4.4 million to health-care training programs
On July 23, the BC government announced its intent to contribute $4.4 million to BC post-secondary schools, including Camosun College, to assist training and upgrading of BC health-care professionals. This funding is designed to attract more students into the health-care field and to improve the skills of currently working professionals. The funding will target programs for nurses, health-care and anaesthesia assistants, and mental health and community-support workers. Camosun received $310,000 to go toward starting a health-care assistant program and an educational assistant program on the Westshore.