Heather Craib
Heather Craib, our Head Nurse, comes to the School from Cowichan District Hospital where she was the clinical coordinator for the medical palliative care unit. Heather has a great deal of experience in many areas of Health care. She worked for eight years as the Head Nurse at Crofton House School in Vancouver and her responsibilities there were as a medical practitioner and educator. Heather has worked in Emergency care on and off as well as being a medical investigator for the Coroner’s Office in Victoria, as an instructor training paramedics for the Justice Institute and as a recovery nurse at a plastic surgery clinic.
Returning to a school environment has done wonders for Heather’s outlook. “It is an absolute delight to come to work at Shawnigan each day! Recently, I was introduced to a parent by their child as, ‘my other mom’—what a privilege to take on that role with students! It is a blessing to work with healthy kids and my goals are to help provide sound, positive advice and information that allow kids to make good decisions and healthy lifestyle choices. The job at Shawnigan is multi-faceted, but it is also manageable and I am excited to join the caring, cohesive, experienced team of health care professionals in the clinic.”
Two other nurses, Anne Housser and Catherine Cook, round out the nursing staff. Both have children studying at Shawnigan. “They are a wealth of information about how things work from staff and student perspectives. Heidi Brewer, our administrative assistant, is wonderful and can supply me instantly with whatever medical records or materials that I need to do my job effectively. Moira Sambey, our School counselor, works closely with us and gives the medical team a deeper understanding of many of our students and their concerns.”
Heather reports that she is happy to receive the welcome emails and phone calls from parents. Getting to know parents is often a large part of the puzzle when dealing with the concerns of students. “We try to respond in a timely fashion,” says Heather, “but, of course, dealing with students’ needs takes precedence, so if parents don’t hear back immediately, they should know that we will respond as soon as possible.”
Heather is also involved in planning more on-going personal health education for students at Shawnigan. She feels that there is a great deal we can do at the School to ensure healthy attitudes toward all aspects of life, both as teenagers and as our students grow toward adulthood.
In her time at the School, Heather has impressed us with her efficiency, care and enthusiasm. She lives in Shawnigan, just down the road from the village, with her husband, Ian (a police officer) and daughter, Shannon. The family also has a dog, two cats and a chinchilla!