Ethel Johns, one of the founding directors of
the University of British Columbia's nursing program, has been declared a
Person of National Historic Significance. Close to fifty years after her
passing, Johns is finally being given the recognition she deserves. Her award
will put her amongst a distinguished group of Canadians that have been honoured
with the title. Past recipients include Terry Fox, Marshall McLuhan, Emily
Murphy and Emily Carr.
Johns’ push for a nursing program at UBC
occurred eleven years after the higher education facility was opened. Her
request for increased education for nurses at the University came at the
perfect time. Canada had recently seen the value of nurses during their
military engagements in Europe and the global pandemic of the Spanish Flu had
brought the vulnerability of the human body major attention. Nurses were needed
everywhere and schools were needed to train them.
At the time, there were only four faculties at
UBC: Arts, Science, Agriculture and Applied Science. Nursing was placed within
the Applied Science faculty and Johns was named official coordinator in 1919.
During this period, she was also the Director of Nursing Services and Education
at Vancouver General Hospital.
Before the program was established, nurses learned
on the job or at limited training centres in hospitals. In fact, Johns flagship
program was the first degree-granting program for nurses in the British Empire;
quite an accomplishment for a nurse who learned her trade at a hospital in
Winnipeg.
Now, close to a hundred years later, UBC is one of the many
educational establishments offering degrees in nursing across Canada. Nursingstudents leave with an education that has its roots in the stubborn wishes of a
feisty no-nonsense professional who worked tirelessly to promote the need for
educated nurses.
Johns would go on to develop nursing programs
across Europe and at the Ivy League American University, Cornell.
