The Board of Directors of the Ontario Occupational Health Nurses Association (OOHNA) has announced that PSHSA’s Vice President of Client Outreach Henrietta Van hulle, RN, MHSM, COHN(C), CRSP, CDMP is the recipient of OOHNA’s highest honour – The Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an occupational health nurse’s outstanding contribution locally and provincially to the specialty of Occupational Health Nursing specialty and to the professional organization (OOHNA).

Throughout her career and in her current position, Henrietta (Henri) continually advocates for Ontario’s healthcare and public sector, as well as Occupational Health Nurses. With over 30 years’ experience serving the healthcare sector, Henri has built a reputation of expertise and professionalism among provincial, national and international peers, and is a valued member of every team. Henri’s knowledge and experience encompasses all aspects of occupational health and safety, but specialties include infection prevention and control, workplace violence prevention and disability management.

Henri began her career as a Registered Nurse in the hospital sector where she cared for patients for 17 years. She remained in the hospital setting for an additional four years in Occupational Health and Infection Prevention and Control before moving into occupational health and safety and joining Public Services Health & Safety Association.

Among her many achievements, Henri is the Co-founder of the National Alliance for Safety and Health in Healthcare (NASHH) in which the majority of provinces in Canada are actively involved. Henri was also integral to the development of the Ministry-endorsed Violence, Aggression & Responsive Behaviour (VARB) Toolkits for workplace violence prevention in healthcare. Lately, her efforts have been focused on ensuring safe working environments for Ontario’s public sector workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Henri has also been a key instructor at Mohawk College for the National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR) programs in Disability Management, and a guest lecturer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She continues to mentor occupational health nurses and several other healthcare professionals.

We congratulate Henri on this well-deserved honour. She is an outstanding nursing leader and her passion and commitment serve as daily inspiration for all of us at PSHSA.

The award will be presented by Karen Watson, President of OOHNA at the association’s 2020 Annual General Meeting on Friday, September 25, 2020.