News & Events
To see the books chronicling the history of Catholic Hospitals in Canada please visit the "Links" page and follow the instructions. The St. Joseph's School of Nursing books celebrating 100 Years as a School of Nursing and 100 Years as an Alumnae are included in this collection.
Nursing School Alumnae
Giving Back to St. Joe’s with Gratitude
Patricia “Pat” Murphy, nee Scollard, graduated from St. Joe’s School of Nursing as part of the largest class in the Hospital’s history. She has many good memories of the learning opportunities she was given and, out of gratitude, Pat is leaving a gift in her Will to help future nurses continue the exceptional care at St. Joe’s.
“I developed many friendships while I was in nursing school and the camaraderie was special as we leaned on each other for ongoing support,” says Pat. One classmate even brought Pat and her future husband together on a blind date for the nursing alumnae’s Chrysanthemum Ball.
Pat’s nursing aspirations began at an early age and she spent lots of time bandaging her dolls and young friends. She learned the meaning of hard work on her family’s 1,000-acre farm south of Brantford while helping to take care of horses, cattle, fruit trees, and morePat joined the St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in 1947, graduated in 1950, and was offered a job at St. Joe’s right away. She married Gordon Murphy in 1951 and their family grew with six children, 15 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren! Pat and Gordon were together for 65 years before he passed in 2017 at the age of 88 years.
Pat enjoyed a 32-year career working at St. Joe’s in the areas of surgery, maternity, and general medicine. Most of her time was spent as the Head Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency until she retired in 1982.
“I am very, very proud to be affiliated with St. Joseph’s Hospital, my alma mater,” says Pat. "I am giving back to repay my gratitude for the time and energy spent in teaching me to become an excellent nurse. All of the learning, both professional and personal, was a highlight in my life.”
For 30 years, Pat has been making annual gifts to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation and she also decided to include a gift through her Will. This type of donation helps ensure that St. Joe’s can continue to push the boundaries of exceptional care in the future. "I know my gift helps fund new possibilities at the Hospital,” says Pat.
Donations help fund research into new treatment options to solve the mysteries of illness and disease and also to purchase the newest equipment. Pat recalls benefitting from new technology and advancements especially in the ICU where she spent a great deal of her nursing career.
Legacy gifts also allow us to enhance patient care by redeveloping and enhancing key departments, like our Dialysis and Cardiac Units, and create opportunities to train the healthcare professionals of tomorrow.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation raises and stewards funds to support exemplary patient care, research, and education at the Hospital and we are very grateful for Pat’s support. Together we are helping St. Joe’s provide hope, healing, and discovery to patients and their loved ones for generations to come.
For more information about a legacy gift for St. Joe’s contact Lisa Gonnering, Manager Estate & Gift Planning at lisa@stjoesfoundation.ca or visit our website at http://www.stjoesfoundation.ca/legacy
Accolades
Roar Solutions is an outstanding example of a truly client-focused and technically sound Web site Company. The St Joseph's School of Nursing Alumnae Association in Hamilton, Ontario spent 2 years planning to get their Web site up and running with a successful launch in June 2004. Roar was with us every step of the way from pre-planning discussions, to creating, implementing, evaluating, and maintaining our site. We are grateful for the commitment and genuine interest that Roar has shown.
- SJSNAA Executive
Reinhard Purfurst recently retired, is a prime example of an outstanding photographer. He transformed our archival graduation photos, re-photographed them, and translated them into the IT language needed to launch our website. This time-consuming task, lasting many months, was completed with a sense of professionalism and a sense of preserving accurate historical data. We are grateful to Reinhard and his staff for their devotion and co-operation to this project, to the Alumnae Executive, and to Ned Bubic of Roar Solutions.