Pauline Bernard

Director, Campbell River, Comox Valley & Area Integrated Health Services

As a frontline nurse, nurse clinician, diabetes educator, administrator and leader in the Campbell River and Comox Valley region, Pauline Bernard has used her collaboration and leadership skills, and determination to drive concrete and tangible improvements to her community health care services.

Her crowning achievement just may be the Sunshine Wellness Centre. For years, Pauline observed people in her community struggling to manage chronic illness in part because related services were unconnected and offered at different locations.

Pauline’s vision was to create a chronic disease management community, with a range of specialized services co-located at one integrated clinic, and when space became available at the Campbell River Hospital she saw opportunity. She met with representatives from all the chronic disease management services and sold them on the benefits of moving to a new, integrated, one-stop chronic disease management unit. She presented to a variety of groups to raise money for the renovations. She secured funding from The Campbell River Hospital Auxiliary and then brought her proposal to hospital leadership. Within a few months, the Sunshine Wellness Centre was a reality!

The Sunshine Wellness Centre model of chronic disease management has grown and flourished under Pauline’s leadership. The concept has now been recreated in the Comox Valley and is being studied for inclusion as part a new hospital recently announced for the Cowichan Valley in Duncan.

For her commitment to breaking down silos in the name of improved treatment for chronic disease patients, Pauline Bernard has been named this year’s Health Care Hero for Island Health.

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