The University of Windsor Faculty of Nursing welcomed Ontario’s minister of long-term care Stan Cho on March 13 for a tour that extended beyond the University to include visits to long-term care facilities in the Windsor and Sarnia regions.

Accompanied by MPP for Windsor - Tecumseh Andrew Dowie, Cho attended a roundtable discussion encompassing long-term care research, practice, and needs. Representatives from UWindsor faculties of nursing and human kinetics, and the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, shared information on their fields of study and practical experience.

“The Honourable Stan Cho’s visit was very engaging and productive,” says dean of nursing Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine. “Given our presenters’ diverse areas of expertise, we demonstrated how research and practice come together as solutions to ever-evolving long-term care needs, especially from the standpoint of responsiveness to care.”

Dr. Sheppard-LeMoine adds that inter-faculty research provides effective strategies to better understand how to support long-term care in the future.

Nursing students in long-term care clinical placements also attended the event and third-year student Lekha Patel shared her personal experience.

“My placement has really opened my eyes about quality of life as well as understanding different challenges that are associated with aging and the significant need for long-term care in our community,” says Patel. “As for the meeting, it was a great opportunity to hear about the various research initiatives at UWindsor, especially surrounding gerontology.”

A tour of nursing’s simulation lab provided Cho and Dowie a close-up look at its capabilities and how education in these critical spaces of learning helps prepare students for the workforce.