Arthur Labatt family gift honored with naming of nursing school

 

  

The $10 million gift from Labatt comes as the respected Canadian business leader is preparing to lead his final convocation ceremonies as Chancellor of Western during the week of June 9.

“Arthur Labatt has been generous to Western in so many ways,” says Western President Paul Davenport.  “This gift will create new opportunities for undergraduate and graduate nursing students, it will increase the research capacity of our nursing school, and perhaps most importantly, it will allow us to continue to provide excellence in training for nurses who have tremendous impact on the health care of Canadians.”
 
“By entering into the nursing profession, Western’s School of Nursing graduates provide invaluable services to our community,” says Arthur Labatt.  “My family and I are pleased to strengthen our commitment to The University of Western Ontario and the Faculty of Health Sciences, which continue to produce exceptional health-care professionals when they are needed most.”
 
“Western’s School of Nursing boasts high entrance standards, high graduation rates and higher than average certification exam scores,” says Jim Weese, Dean of Health Sciences at Western.

“Our award-winning professors and clinical faculty lead the way in innovative nursing research and scholarship.  This school will proudly carry the Labatt family name.”
 
Davenport pointed to the fact that a large portion of the gift will be endowed funds that will create opportunities, not just now, but for decades to come.  
Included in the Labatt gift:

•$2,500,000 in endowed and expendable funding in support of undergraduate and graduate nursing student scholarships.

•$2,050,000 for an endowed Chair in Nursing.

•$2,000,000 for an endowed nursing education and research fund.  The fund will support three or four teaching positions in the Compressed Nursing program and will be used to develop and secure research grants for the Nursing Program.

•$3,000,000 for renewal of the Health Sciences Addition –to improve educational resources for nursing students and establish dedicated space for nursing research activity.

•$200,000 to a clinical education fund to support nursing students with costs associated with distance placements in health-care settings. A significant portion will support placements in pediatric nursing.

•$250,000 in support of the renovation of the Talbot College Theatre within the Don Wright Faculty of Music.  

Arthur Labatt has served as Chancellor of The University of Western Ontario since 2004. His term of office comes to an end on June 30, 2008.  During his term as Chancellor he has been an outstanding supporter of the university and is highly, and fondly, regarded by all who have had the opportunity to work with him.
 
This is his second major gift to the university in the area of Health Sciences.  In 2005, Labatt and his wife Sonia, donated $5 million to the university.  In recognition of their generosity, the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building was named.

Labatt, who studied at Western, served until 2005 as Chairman of AIM Trimark Investments, one of Canada’s largest mutual fund companies with over $40 billion of assets under management. AIM Trimark was formed in 2000 after the merger of Trimark Investment Management Inc. (TIMI) and AIM Funds Management Inc. Prior to the merger, Mr. Labatt was president of Trimark Financial Corporation and CEO of TIMI.

 

Until May 1999, he was also CEO of Trimark Financial Corporation. TIMI, which he co-founded in 1981, was the sponsor and manager of a family of mutual and segregated funds and a variety of other financial products and services. Trimark was a leading Canadian investment company with offices across Canada.
 
Arthur Labatt is a great-grandson of John Labatt. 

 

The following is the speech given by Labatt at the announcement:

 

 

"Thank you, Paul, Jim, Mary-Anne, Annabel & Kiersten for your very warm and generous welcome. And thank you everyone for joining us today to pay tribute to the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Nursing.

Let me begin by saying that Sonia and I are so pleased to be able to strengthen our commitment to the University of Western Ontario, and build on our association with the Faculty of Health Sciences, where we have seen such positive results over the past few years.

It has been a very complex decision – choosing which areas we should support. As Chancellor of the university, I’ve seen the best Western has to offer. Every faculty is excellent and distinctive, and led by dedicated professors and researchers. And, I have always been so impressed by the character, integrity and drive of all the students. But this opportunity with the School of Nursing somehow resonated immediately with Sonia and with me. I believe it is because we know how essential the nursing profession is to our society.

At convocation, the nursing graduates appear to walk across the stage with a sense of quiet determination. Maybe it’s because they graduate knowing their next step in life – whether that’s working at a hospital, studying at a graduate level or working in public health or elsewhere. 

But I think that there is more to it than that.  It seems as if the men and women who go into nursing have a passion for their future vocation. Not all students and graduates have that certainty and purpose at this stage of their lives. 

Personally, I never seemed to know where I was headed.  I have a good friend who is a few years my senior. He told me the other day that he still doesn’t know what he wants to do when he grows up!

Society has not always recognized the contribution of these bright and confident nursing professionals. Part of the reason why we’re here today is that Sonia and I would like to do our part to change this perception. We want to show our recognition of the importance of the nursing profession by contributing to the School of Nursing.

Historically, nurses have been seen as caregivers par excellence. And as we move forward, they remain as caregivers, but deliver much more.  Nurses have assumed roles as clinical managers, academic researchers and health-care professionals --- in multiple settings. These efforts deserve greater recognition, especially as we face pressures in the Canadian health-care system.

The term “caregivers” does not do justice to nursing; it gives the impression of – simply a compassionate bedside manner. But that is just the beginning. Patients often require needles and other painful and invasive procedures. At the same time, nurses must respond to sometimes unpredictable behaviour from patients who are at their most vulnerable. And always, nurses must retain their professionalism while delivering unwelcome treatment that may cause patients considerable discomfort.

It takes a certain strength of character to do this, and I am not sure that I could do it. So I admire those who can.

Nurses are in the front-line position to know patient needs better than anyone else. Their studies have spread in new directions in the academic world, where they bring a new perspective to the health-care system. Recent achievements by nurses in the area of patient-care research and the development of complex procedures are impressive contributions to our health-care system.

Nursing has evolved into a vital profession with its own regulatory body and its own standards, review processes and body of knowledge. Even in the last 10 to 20 years, great advancements have been made.

Yet, at the same time, the nursing profession faces several problems in Canada.  In a country with an aging population that requires more and more nurses, the vocation is experiencing a severe shortage. With more patients, shorter hospital stays and fewer resources, nurses must do more with less.

It is precisely now that we, as a society, need to respect and understand the importance of the nursing profession and encourage motivated and bright individuals to consider this vocation.

The Faculty of Health Sciences and the School of Nursing have ambitious plans to attract nurses to the profession. They are doing so by expanding the field’s range of influence through specialization, academic research and leadership in the health-care system.

Sonia and I are very pleased to contribute to this effort. However, while our contribution is monetary, the real gift to society will come from bright and determined women and men who follow their nursing vocation.

We believe these graduates, in following their calling, will provide invaluable services to our community and to our country with their skills and passion.  And, they will continue to make all of us proud.

Thank you."