UNews - Mark Pijl Zieber

Generous gift from local family will allow growth in engineering at Lethbridge College and nursing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

caroline.zentner — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 17:01:10 +0000

The trades and technologies facility at Lethbridge College and the Bachelor of Nursing After Degree (BNAD) program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will receive a boost from Al and Vera Kenwood, local business owners, the two Lethbridge post-secondary institutions announced today.

This generous gift will see $25,000 go toward the Lethbridge College trades and technologies facility in the area of Engineering Technologies and $25,000 toward the BNAD program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. The BNAD program is a joint program of Lethbridge College and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, with the first year of the program offered at the college and the second and third years offered at the university. Al was a civil engineer and Vera was a nurse, and both strongly believe in education and the value of investing in these industries and trades at a local level.

"Vera and I have enjoyed a long and happy life in Lethbridge raising our family and involving ourselves in the business community at a time when the city was growing and defining its role as a leader in educational opportunities,” says Al Kenwood. “Our desire to support Lethbridge College and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge stems from our pride in our community and the important roles each institution plays in advancing educational pursuits for their students."

The trades and technologies facility will position the college as the institution for trades training in southern Alberta. Ground was broken on the project in April 2014 and the facility will be open and ready for students in the fall of 2017.

“Lethbridge College is thankful for the generous gift from the Kenwood family,” says Dr. Paula Burns, Lethbridge College President and CEO. “Through this gift, the college will add value to our new facilities which will help us support a vibrant learning environment to engage our students with creative instructional technology.”

With a 165,000 square foot facility that will support more than 880 new learners across eight trades areas and four technology programs including the Engineering Technologies programs, Lethbridge College will support new and emerging trends in trades and technologies programs and practices, including skills simulation and new equipment for both training and applied research.

"This thoughtful gift from the Kenwood family will help Lethbridge College continue to provide our engineering students with access to cutting-edge technology and learning environments,” says Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh, dean of Applied Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Chris Hosgood, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, says students in their final year of the BNAD program will benefit from the largesse of the Kenwood family.

“This scholarship will encourage the best applicants and support them through their studies,” says Hosgood. “We appreciate the fact the Kenwoods choose to invest in our students and local post-secondary institutions.”

The BNAD program is offered to students who have completed a bachelor’s degree in another discipline and acknowledges students’ previous degree accomplishments while still providing the full nursing education experience. Importantly, the program also creates a new path into baccalaureate nursing and the profession.

“Students in the BNAD program are a perfect fit at a liberal arts institution like the U of L. They are students who come into the program with a wealth of experience and then are able to focus that experience into the context of nursing. They are students who are inquisitive, broad-minded and hard-working,” says Dr. Mark Pijl Zieber, a Health Sciences professor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Al Kenwood was raised in Lethbridge after his parents emigrated from Lithuania. He trained in civil engineering at McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Vera was raised in Taber and trained in nursing at the Sacred Heart in Spokane, Washington. They married in 1952 and raised their family in Lethbridge. Al was a Foundation Board Member at Lethbridge College in 1987/88.

The Kenwood’s family business has been in operation for 57 years as owners of Kenwood Construction and Engineering Ltd. from 1957 to 1982 when Mr. Kenwood diversified his business holdings by developing various commercial properties.

For more information on the college’s trades and technologies facility, visit lethbridgecollege.ca. For more information on the university’s BNAD program, visit www.uleth.ca/healthsciences/bnad.

The Science of Mistakes

trevor.kenney — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 17:19:42 +0000

To err is human – we’ve all heard the saying, and we all know it’s true. But when human health and human lives are in the balance, mistakes aren’t always easy to understand or accept – particularly if you’re the person who’s made one.

Mark Pijl Zieber’s PhD project examined how student mistakes are managed in nursing education.

Mark Pijl Zieber (BN’93), associate professor with the nursing program in the Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as a registered nurse and who recently completed his PhD through U of A, is determined to not only discover how the fear of making mistakes impacts nursing students’ clinical performance, but also how to improve student learning both before mistakes are made and after they’ve happened.

Raised in Lethbridge, Pijl Zieber is an alumnus of both Lethbridge College and U of L. After earning a nursing diploma in 1990, Pijl Zieber worked full time as a registered nurse for one year before enrolling in the U of L Health Sciences program in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. He later went on to UBC where he focused his Master’s thesis on the teaching and learning dynamic between clinical instructors and their students.

“I have an on-going interest in nursing education, specifically on the clinical side of things,” says Pijl Zieber. “Clinical is where nursing students really put everything together. How we prepare students in theory classes is important, but theory is much different than actual practice. We need to support students in ways that give them confidence in a clinical setting.”

Pijl Zieber’s PhD project examined how student mistakes are managed in nursing education, and presents evidence based solutions for reducing the negative effects mistakes have on student learning and experience.

“We can improve nursing education if we better manage how we deal with students who make mistakes,” says Pijl Zieber. “Of course we’d like it if mistakes never happened, but they naturally do. Some of the interventions nursing instructors advocate when mistakes happen are not evidence based. We can’t intervene based on opinion alone and expect positive outcomes.”

In between his time as a student, Pijl Zieber has taught nursing at Lethbridge College, UBC, and has had two appointments at U of L – one prior to his Master’s study, and the second beginning after his Master’s designation in 2002. Pijl Zieber says he’s happy to be back teaching where his academic career began, and is excited to take on the role of researcher.

“I love how research allows you to see things in new ways. I’m a very practical kind of researcher, and I’m looking forward to really exploring new topics,” says Pijl Zieber. “We have a great program at U of L – there’s a lot of young faculty members here, many of whom are front and centre in research and academia. It’s an innovative and exciting place not only to teach but also to learn. And I really enjoy the opportunities in Lethbridge. It’s a great place to be.”

Droog gift establishes Chair in alternative health care

trevor.kenney — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:15:57 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Health Sciences will broaden its research and teaching horizons in a unique research discipline with the establishment of a $2 million endowment at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ – enabled by a gift of $1 million from southern Alberta businessman Dr. Tom Droog (LLD '06).

Droog's gift will allow the U of L to establish the Emmy Droog Chair in Complementary and Alternative Health Care – the Faculty's first endowed Professorship. The professorship will enable evidence-based research to explore the issues and care practices associated with complementary and alternative medicine.

"I believe in education and alternative healing and I'm happy to be able to support them both through this gift," says Droog, who received an Honorary Degree from the U of L in 2006. "I believe that ideas come from ideas and I think this has awesome potential."

Dr. Tom Droog sees amazing potential in the creation of a unique research discipline at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Mark Pijl Zieber, a Faculty of Health Sciences nursing researcher, says that complementary and alternative health hasn't always been complementary or alternative – at one time it was the norm. Even today, statistics show that more than 75 per cent of Canadians access complementary and alternative health care.

"Humans have been delivering health care throughout history, and before western medicine, these were the therapies people used," says Pijl Zieber. "It's only since the development of western medicine that traditional beliefs have been labeled alternative. While we certainly do benefit from the advances made by western medicine, we've lost many of the other options."

Pijl Zieber says that providing effective health care is not always about a cure, especially when considering chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

"Sometimes these diseases can't be beaten, but they can, and need to be, managed – it's about maximizing a person's quality of life. This is at the heart of the Droog gift. It's not about abandoning the institution of western medicine, it's about facilitating a broader approach to health care."

The award is named for Droog's late wife, Emmy, who lost a long battle with cancer in 2010. Both originally from Holland, the couple met in Ontario and headed west in 1972 to take advantage of the opportunities offered in Alberta. They settled near Bow Island, Alta., and farmed for several years before founding Alberta Sunflower Seeds, Ltd., which grew over a 30-year period to become Spitz Sunflower Seeds, a popular North American snack food. Partners in everything, the Droogs worked together to build their business while raising two children: a daughter Christy (Droog) Strom (BN '03) is a U of L graduate in nursing who is a community care case manager at Lethbridge Community Care, and son Randy, who lives in Ontario. In 2008, the Droogs sold Spitz to PepsiCo.

Tom and his late wife Emmy established Spitz Sunflower Seeds and grew it into one of North America's top snack food companies.

Dr. Christopher Hosgood, the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, is looking forward to the opportunities afforded by this significant gift, which will benefit all programs in the Faculty.

"Nursing, addictions counselling and public health at the U of L are naturally inclined to understanding alternative therapies, although we've never had the chance to fully explore some of those options. Thanks to Dr. Droog's gift, we can now develop expertise in these areas."

Hosgood adds that as the largest individual donation to health sciences programming at the U of L, Droog's gift represents a vote of confidence in the Faculty and helps set the stage for future growth.

"It is very encouraging for our Faculty to know that we have such a strong, committed individual working alongside us. We are honoured to have been chosen as the recipient of this gift and are committed to using the resources we've been entrusted with wisely," says Hosgood.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge President Dr. Mike Mahon says the gift will be a unique complement to existing health sciences programming and will help the U of L to better serve its students and the community.

"We are proud to have the opportunity to work with Tom and his family in developing this professorship, which we expect will further connect our university to the community through the various individuals and organizations offering alternative and complementary health-care solutions," says Mahon.

"The Emmy Droog Professorship in Complementary and Alternative Health Care is a wonderful tribute and shows Tom's commitment to educating the next generation of health-care professionals."

For Droog and his family, education is key.

"When doctors mention the word cancer, people stop listening," says Droog, who was devastated when his wife was diagnosed with the disease in 2007. Over the next three years, the couple worked together investigating various health-care options that would help improve Emmy's quality of life as she battled her illness.

As a health-care practitioner, Droog's daughter Christy Strom sees the benefits that training in many different health-care disciplines can provide.

"It's important to get this information into the mainstream," says Strom. "Some of the alternative and complementary treatments are very simple, the problem is they're expensive and not everyone has access to them. We also need to educate health-care professionals about alternative therapies so that they can better serve their patients."

The U of L will develop a position description for the Emmy Droog Professor in Complementary and Alternative Health Care, and begin a recruiting process that could see a person placed in the Faculty of Health Sciences in time for the Fall 2012 semester.

UNews - Mark Pijl Zieber

Generous gift from local family will allow growth in engineering at Lethbridge College and nursing at the ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

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