Congratulations to the 2009 RPN Award winner Peggy Skelton, RPN in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Administration and Melanie Walters, RPN and Audrey Lipka in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Practice.

Peggy Skelton, RPN

Congratulations to the 2008 RPN Award winner Candace Alston, RPN and Pam Watt, RPN in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Practice.

Candace Alston, RPN and Pam Watt, RPN

Congratulations to the 2007 RPN Award winner Janice Myron, RPN in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Practice.

Janice Myron, RPN

Congratulations to the 2006 RPN Award winners Dale Ziolkowski, RPN and Rose Oxby, RPN in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Practice.

Dale Ziolkowski, RPN

Rose Oxby, RPN

Congratulations to the 2005 RPN Award winners Clem Fortin, RPN, Carla Spanier, RPN and Mary K Renwick who recieved the RPN Award for their contributions in Psychiatric Nursing Practice and to Darren Cowan-Bittner who received his award in the area of Psychiatric Nursing Research.

Clem Fortin, RPN	Carla Spanier, RPN
Darren Cowan-Bittner

• RPN Award Protocol and Guidelines
• RPN Award Nomination Form

2004 Leflar Memorial Award

The Leflar Memorial Award is given to the Saskatchewan Psychiatric Nursing Graduate achieving the highest mark on the RPN Registration Examination (new student). Unfortunately, for 2004 there were no new Saskatchewan trained RPNS who wrote the RPNAS examination

Academic Achievement Award - Psychiatric Re-entry

This award was established last year to recognize the achievements of those members who have completed the psychiatric nursing re-entry program and then achieved the highest mark on the RPNAS Registration Examination. This year's recipient was Dara-Lee Nadon, RPN

Dara-Lee Nadon, RPN

2004 Bursary & Scholarship Recipients
The Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Saskatchewan is very pleased to announce the following recipients of scholarships and bursaries for 2005:

Beverly Whitehawk, RPN RPN Bursary

Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Canada Award
May 8, 2004 Winnipeg, Manitoba

Art Gondziola, RPN was honored with a Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Canada Award in the category of Excellence in Psychiatric Nursing Leadership at the World Congress in Psychiatric Nursing in Winnipeg. This national award presented to only four RPN’s in four areas of practice:

• Practice,
• Leadership,
• Research and
• Nursing Education.

The Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association would like to congratulate Art on receiving this very prestigious award and for all his contributions to psychiatric nursing in Saskatchewan and Canada.

RPNAS president Candace Alston, RPN presented the award to Art Gondziola	Art Gondziola gives a heart warming acceptance speech

RPNAS would also like to extend its congratulations to RPNC Award winners Annette Osted, RPN (Manitoba), John Crawford, RPN (BC) and Doug Buist, RPN (Alberta)

The Health Quality Council developed the Stellar Awards for Quality as a way to recognize and share the achievements of individuals and organizations promoting quality improvement in Saskatchewan.

We are pleased to congratulate the GROW Pathway Development Program for receiving the Stellar Award in the category of Quality Improvement Champion.

The focus of this new program is providing better treatment for patients with personality disorders. The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region mental health team found that about 35% of their patients had a personality disorder but there was no clear or specific program to treat them. The mental health team identified best practices which they used to develop the GROW model.

GROW is an acronym for Goals-Reframe-Options-Wellness and is the framework for the clinical pathway. It involves patient education and more timely intervention. Patients are involved right from the beginning, through a patient-team agreement, It sets out what the team is willing to provide and what the client is willing to do. Patients in the program spend seven days in the hospital then are connected with a community worker. Clients identify areas they need to work on and are provided with educational materials to guide their work.

The GROW program began last year with 26 patients and has already experienced success. Patients response to the program has been positive and the average length of hospital stay has been decreased by two days.

GROW was recently invited to present at the World Congress of Psychiatric Nurses in Winnipeg.

Please attend the RPNAS Annual Meeting and Education Days to learn more about the GROW Pathway Development Program.

GROW team members are (RPNs listed in red): Giselle Burnay, Sue Grandish, Candace Alston, Sue Krogsgaard, Dwight Nelson, Dan Fraser, Jean Nelson, Ruby Tuharsky Not in picture: Dr. Verma, Brenda Burt, Marcie DeBaets, Lori Carlson, Judith Chuika, Jeff Gibson, Roberta Jors and John Labatt.