At Providence Healthcare, the Nursing Education Awards play a vital role in recognizing the compassion, dedication, and skill that nurses bring to their work every day. They honour the meaningful connections nurses build with patients and families, the emotional care that often goes unseen, and the continuous learning that fosters clinical excellence.
We spoke with a few of the award recipients, who shared the same heartfelt sentiment: a deep and genuine thank you.
Miranda Wong never expected to receive the Macri Nursing Scholarship Award once—let alone three times.
But the award had carried her through many years of training, helping her balance part-time study and part-time work, and easing the financial strain while she pursued her dream of becoming a nurse. Now, newly graduated and working as an Registered Nurse at Providence, Miranda says the award made all the difference.
“This award has given me so much,” Miranda says. “Every course, every skill, every lesson…it shows up in the way I care for all of my patients.”
What moves her most is the generosity of the man behind the gift: George Macri. A long-time donor to Providence, George established this award in honour out of gratitude for the care his parents received there.
“Even saying ‘thank you’ doesn’t express what I feel,” says Miranda, noting that she strives to provide the same level of compassionate care that George’s family received at Providence. “The gratitude is so much bigger than what I can say.”
This is a sentiment shared by Marnellie Hilao, who received the Patient and Family Partner Gratitude Award.
Marnellie, who works in the Houses of Providence, was recognized for doing what has always felt natural to her: showing up, listening, and finding the little ways to make someone feel seen. But when she became the first recipient of the Patient and Family Partner Gratitude Award, it felt less like a spotlight and more like a reminder: small connections matter.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of our work,” she says. “When I received that award, it just really reminded me why I do what I do.”
In that moment, Marnellie says she thought of her residents, how a simple conversation softens hard days, how trust grows one moment at a time. She thought of her team, and how compassion is never a solo act at Providence.
Marnellie says this award won’t change what she does, but it reaffirms what she knows. “Receiving this award makes me feel that maybe I am doing the right thing. Maybe I am doing a great job.”
The Dr. Colin Kilty Award and the Providence Lifelong Learning Grant also provide funding to employees across Providence. The Dr. Colin Kilty Award was established by his family and honours his 22 years of dedicated service as an exceptional, compassionate physician at Providence.
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