I proudly rise to carry on a great Nursing Week tradition, begun by my predecessor Percy Hatfield, to recognize in the House the recipient of this year’s RNAO Lois Fairley Nursing Award, Mary Cunningham. Mary has been serving for 46 years and has been part of the intensive care unit at our Ouellette Campus since 1990. Mary mentors and guides all those who have had the privilege to work with her. She has helped develop the provincial standards for nursing in critical care, as well as for end-of-life programs. It is Mary’s work to care for families that truly shines through, while consistently giving of her knowledge to our community’s newest nurses. Her colleagues have rightfully described her passion for caregiving as being contagious.

The Fairley family and the Windsor-Essex chapter of the RNAO selected Mary from among nominations received from the public. Lois Fairley, the namesake of the award, was both a graduate and an employee of Windsor’s Grace Hospital for 38 years. Lois served as a director of RNAO and president of the Ontario Nurses Association, as well as sitting on the St. Clair College nursing program advisory committee.

Mary Cunningham demonstrates, just as Lois Fairley did, that amazing people work in nursing, and it’s truly fitting that she’s bestowed with this honour.

Thank you so much, Mary, for your service to us in Windsor-Essex and to the province of Ontario.