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Staff Profile
HERES WHO’S SUPPORTING BCNU MEMBERS AND LEADERS
PROFESSIONAL ADVOCACY OFFICER DEBORAH CHARROIS HELPS NURSES WITH LEGAL ISSUES RELATED TO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
PASSIONATE ADVOCATE BCNU LEAP Program Advocacy Officer Deborah Charrois enjoys helping members heal and come back to nursing with renewed passion and personal insights.
DEBORAH CHARROIS IS one of three Advocacy Officers who work out of BCNU’s New Westminster office. She’s part of BCNU’s LEAP (Licensing, Education, Advocacy and Practice) Program established in 1988 to assist members with legal problems related to professional practice incidents that led to an inquest or caused a review by the RNABC, now the College of Registered Nurses (CRNBC). A native of White Rock, Charrois says growing up she always wanted to be a defence lawyer. After obtaining an undergraduate degree,
she entered the University of Alberta law school in 1998 and has never looked back. “I knew going into law school that I wanted to work on labour and social justice issues that were important to me,” remembers Charrois. As a student, she spent a summer working for Victoria Square law, a firm known for its progressive, labour-friendly environment, and which also happens to represent BCNU. Charrois was called back after graduation to article with the firm and found herself working almost exclusively on hearings and practice com-
plaints for BCNU. “I knew the BCNU Collective Agreement inside and out – so it was a natural decision to come work at BCNU,” she recalls. She began working for BCNU as a Labour Relations Officer in 2005 and later made the switch to working in the LEAP Program. Charrois says the first LEAP program got started in the mid-’80s in Ontario as the Legal Expenses Assistance Plan after a nurse in that province was charged with murder. The evidence in that case was weak and the nurse was eventually acquitted. But the experience prompted Ontario nurses to put a levy on members’ dues that would fund a legal expenses assistance program, to help nurses with legal issues arising out of their nursing practice, coroners’ inquests, and discipline hearings with their regulatory body. Nursing organizations in Manitoba and BC followed suit creating similar legal defence funds. Charrois explains that BCNU’s focus today is on working collaboratively with BC’s three nursing Colleges (CRNBC, CLPNBC and CRPNBC) to help work out gaps in communicating or education, so that nurses, patients and employers can all be safe. Charrois says that in the early 1990s, a typical disciplinary hearings cost about $60,000, and nurses found the process to be harrowing and demeaning. So it was decided that a consensual resolution process would be both costeffective and less adversarial. Today, ADR (alternate dispute
resolution) is now used which pre-empts the need for all but a single disciplinary hearing. Charrois wants all nurses to know that they can get assistance from the LEAP Program by simply phoning and speaking with an Advocacy Officer or talking to a worksite steward who is there to help BCNU members connect with the correct person. “We are here to take them through the process,” she says. Charrois is proud to be part of the many improvements to the regulatory treatment of nurses in BC. “The bottom line is we’re there to support nurses. Even if you’re not sure who to call, call someone at BCNU, and they’ll direct you to the right person,” she says. “What I like about this job is being able to take someone from point A to point B and you can see they’ve made progress.” One of Charrois’ most memorable cases is featured in BCNU’s recent video, Honour in Recovery: BCNU Helping Nurses Get Well. It involved working with a nurse who came through her ordeal and is now back at work, taking on extra challenges. Charrois says this is a great example of how nurses can heal and come back to nursing with renewed passion and new personal insights. “Quite a few nurses that we help end up becoming BCNU stewards”, she notes. “They want to give back. It’s great to see them take back control of their lives and thrive.” update