Health careers bursaries reward high achievers

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Forty-seven Aboriginal students in Alberta are getting bursaries averaging more than $4,200 apiece this year to help them continue their studies in a health profession. In all, $199,000 will be awarded through the Aboriginal Health Careers Bursary, through Alberta Health and Wellness' Aboriginal Health Strategy. The announcement was made by Health and Wellness Minister Gary Mar Sept. 1.

The bursary, to be paid in November, is for tuition, books and living expenses of students in all health fields.

The money makes a difference. Some recipients told Sweetgrass they likely would not have been able to continue their studies this year without the bursary.

Angeline Letendre is a recipient for the fifth time, which is every year since the bursary was started in 1996.When Letendre, 39, started the degree program she was already a registered nurse. She now has a B.Sc. in nursing and is working toward a master's degree in community and public health nursing. She will be the first Aboriginal person to graduate from that program at the University of Alberta. This year her bursary was $7,000, the largest she has received from the fund.

She expects to complete her master's degree by December 2001.

"Last year I did work a (half time) position and I did go to school full time, and I did really well in school (but) grad school is a lot different than undergrad. There's a lot more expected of you and . . . you really have to envelop yourself a lot more in the whole process," Letendre said.

She said the effort has been worth it, though, and graduate school is "a lot more satisfying" than undergraduate school, where she sometimes wondered if her studies were relevant to her goal of working to help change policies and achieve better health for Aboriginal people in Alberta. But now with the end in sight, "it is going really well," said Letendre.

Millie Picotte from Oyen, who is affiliated with Metis Local 8 in Medicine Hat, is in her third year of a four-year baccalaureate in nursing. She has been awarded the bursary three times. "Without this bursary I won't be able to do it," she said.

Picotte said "I love it," when asked about her University of Calgary program. She will be a registered nurse in January and her graduation goals are already in sight.

"I've got a lot of irons in the fire right now," Picotte said. "What I am hoping to do is set up an Aboriginal students' services at the college where I'm going . . . I'm just writing up a proposal now."

Picotte, who previously worked as a licenced practical nurse for four years and as an emergency medical technician for two, wants eventually to be self-employed in the community health field. Within five years she wants to acquire a bus to take immunizations and care to reserves and remote areas.

You don't want to step on toes and stuff like that," she said, "but if I get funding directly from the band offices . . . they would be providing a service for Aboriginal people, and Metis settlements . . . I think this would really fill a gap," said Picotte.