In 2011, CARE Centre’s 10th anniversary year, a new award was established to celebrate CARE Centre member IENs for their success in Canada. The CARE Centre Joan Lesmond IEN of the Year Awards is named in honour of the late Dr. Lesmond, a nursing leader who championed access to the nursing profession, and who contributed much to the development of CARE Centre in its early years. Loy Asheri, an RN from Tanzania working at Sunnybrook Cardiac ICU and in community nursing was the inaugural winner. In the second year an ICU RN from London Health Sciences University Hospital, Ismael El Assaad, an IEN from Palestine, was the winner. In year three Edsel Mutia, an RN and charge nurse at North York General’s ICU was the winner. Edsel donated his prize money to relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan in his native Philippines before flying there to assist on the ground. In its fourth year the award was expanded to recognize one RN and one RPN. The winners were RPN Adela Belisario, an IEN from Peru working in complex continuing care at Baycrest, and Ahmad Baki, an RN from Iran working in oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital. The next year the winners were RPN Alexis Lamsen from the Philippines, working at Shalom Village Long-Term Care Home in Hamilton, and Rupali Krishna, an RN from India working at Dover Cliffs Long-Term Care Home. The 2016 winners were Philippine RN Kareen Tacderas of Humber River Hospital’s ICU, and Viral Pandya, an RPN from India working in community nursing with ParaMed. In 2017 the winners were Gaynor Quieros, an RN from the U.K. working in community mental health nursing, who donated her prize money to two charities at Christmas, and Derrick Ntungwe, an RPN from Cameroon working in community nursing with Saint Elizabeth Healthcare and in mental health nursing at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The 2018 Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) IEN of the Year Award was presented to Anna Ke, an IEN from the Philippines who is a professional practice leader at the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care. Novlette Delisser-Francis, a staff nurse working at Carbonear General Hospital in Newfoundland, won the 2018 RN Joan Lesmond IEN of the Year Award.
IENs may self-nominate or be nominated by colleagues or clients. The criteria are:
Review the selection criteria and nominate a CARE Centre IEN if you are a:
Instructions for Submitting Nominations Electronically:
Instructions for Submitting Nominations by Fax or Mail:
If you would like to print out the form to complete hand-written and send it back by fax, the number is 416-226-5300.
You can mail the documentation to:
CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses
128A Sterling Road, Suite 202
Toronto, Ontario, M6R 2B7
Please e-mail your inquiries to info@care4nurses.org with the subject line “IEN of the Year Award Nominations”.