Ann Thomas Callahan (1935 – 16 January 2023)"Ann Thomas Callahan"
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority was a Canadian

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

nurse. She was one of the first Indigenous graduates of the Winnipeg General Hospital's nursing school.

Early life

Callahan was born on the

Peepeekisis Cree Nation Peepeekisis Cree Nation (Band number 384)( cr, ᐲᐦᐲᑭᓰᐢ, ''pîhpîkisîs'', literal meaning: ''Sparrow Hawk'') is a Cree First Nations in Canada, First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Its Indian reserve, reserves include Peepee ...

in Saskatchewan to Nora and John Thomas, and was granted the spirit name "Wapiskisiw Piyésís" (meaning White Birdwoman) by an elder at age four.''Degrees''
Spring/Summer 2015, p. 9 She attended the File Hills Residential School, and went to Manitoba for secondary school at Birtle Indian Residential.

Career

Callahan was one of the first Indigenous graduates of the Winnipeg General Hospital's nursing school, convocating in 1958. She was head nurse of a gynecology ward before joining a new organization, Continuing Care for People in Need, founded in 1973 to support the health needs of those in Winnipeg's core. She also taught in the nursing program at Red River College, retiring in 1996. After retirement she attended university, achieving a bachelor's degree focused on psychology and a masters in interdisciplinary studies. She wrote her masters thesis on "the reclamation and retention of Aboriginal spirituality of

Indian Residential School In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sys ...

Survivors", specifically considering alumni of her own former school, File Hills.

Legacy

Callahan was the namesake of a new critical services building at the

Health Sciences Centre Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, which at the time of its opening in 2007 was the "largest health capital project in Manitoba history". She was also involved in the creation of the Registered Nurses of Canadian Indian Ancestry, now called the

Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association The Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association (CINA) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization. It is an affiliate group of the Canadian Nurses Association. The CINA is the only professional nursing organization for Indigenous peoples in Canada ...

, considered the country's first professional organization for Indigenous peoples.Mary Jane Logan McCallum & Adele Perry (2018)
''Structures of Indifference: An Indigenous Life and Death in a Canadian City''
University of Manitoba Press. p. 58 The association presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callahan, Ann Thomas 1935 births 2023 deaths Canadian nurses People from Saskatchewan Cree people Canadian women nurses