This text is part of the special Nursing Profession notebook
Beyond the care they provide, the two finalists for the Florence 2023 Prize in the Health Promotion category are recognized for their educational, political, media or community interventions aimed at equality or reducing health disparities. By betting on awareness, they rely on the capacity of individuals and communities to take charge of their own health.
Audrey Billeau: the power of social networks
“I think I really created my own professional crush,” says Audrey Billeau. A jack of all trades and fuel for passion, the one who is at the origin of the account The Nursing Mom wishes to transmit quality advice and information to parents and the general public, which has now earned her an award nomination Florence in the Health Promotion category.
Audrey Billeau dreamed of becoming an actress or working in the communications field. “My path to becoming a nurse was not at all mapped out,” she says. After missing the auditions for the National Theater School (to the happiness of her parents), Mme Billeau is exploring health options, a field that had always intrigued her. She ended up opting for nursing, a profession she knew very little about. “I got into it, but I loved my classes at the University of Montreal,” she continues.
Touch all
A baccalaureate and three children later, Audrey Billeau began her nursing career in 2016. For a year, she has been a clinical nurse in schools and youth clinics at the CISSS de la Montérégie-Est, not without having explored several avenues: medicine, psychiatry, home support, private residences for the elderly. “I have always said that a nurse must be like a chameleon and have good adaptability. Exploring various fields gave me greater experience,” she maintains.
From mental health to physical health, from toddlers to the elderly, Audrey Billeau has always wanted to continue to enrich and pass on her knowledge. In the youth clinic, for example, she can talk to adolescents about sexual health. Her job as a school nurse includes several tasks, but most of all she enjoys designing and giving workshops to children in schools. “Verbalizing, popularizing in front of young people who will have unexpected reactions, I love it! » she notes.
The Nursing Mom
Like the professional career of Mme Billeau, The Nursing Mom project started in an atypical way. On maternity leave, she is looking for a stimulating project that could occupy her sleepless nights. Thus was born the Facebook page then Instagram of La Maman humaine, a media which combines her artistic and scientific side and her taste for communication, and which allows her to popularize various subjects. “One thing led to another, I got a taste for it, and I got caught in my own trap,” she says.
Two years later, her Instagram page has nearly 20,000 followers, and some posts have been seen by even more people. His publication on the risk of suffocation among toddlers has been viewed 60,000 times, and his cry from the heart on the lack of resources for toddlers, more than 100,000 times.
One for all…
The Nursing Mom page responds to a crying need, especially in the context of the blocking of Canadian media by Meta. “COVID has brought a lot of misinformation, and parents are unable to find reliable information,” notes Audrey Billeau. Providing reliable and free information is the objective of La Maman humaine.
And for the future? “My dream would be to make a living from The Nursing Mom, by offering workshops, popularized informative capsules, made in partnership with other players in the field. I would like to be recognized in Quebec as a resource that can be trusted,” she explains.
And all for… health
In addition to publications and videos on social networks, Audrey Billeau has also created workshops, which are very popular. “There is a real need among the population for better education. Prevention and health promotion have become my hobby horse,” she maintains.
The nurse also collaborates with other professionals (nutritionist, psychologists, dental hygienist), to offer quality information to her subscribers. She also invites health professionals to take their place on social media. “We must create a presence on these networks to avoid misinformation,” she emphasizes. Faced with the absence of the media, it seeks to counterbalance false or dangerous content. “If there are only influencers advertising drugs, that’s not good news. We must set the record straight,” she concludes.
Valérie-Ève Bérubé: contagious kindness
“My strength is caring », affirms Valérie-Ève Bérubé straight away. The one who wanted to be a mechanic finally found her calling in nursing.
However, nothing destined Valérie-Ève Bérubé to a career in the health sector: “My father and my brothers had forestry machinery, my mother worked at the Caisse populaire,” she says. But a year spent caring for her two sick parents completely changes her plans. “I found the work environment stimulating, I really liked the constant hustle and bustle. And strangely, I found that a hospital smelled good. It must really be because it was my vocation! » she said, laughing.
Find his place
Despite some challenges posed by her science classes, she carved out her place in the industry. “I was never good at biology, physiology or pathology. But my strengths were elsewhere: collaborating, placing patients at the center of my practice, caring. We can’t all be good at the same place,” she notes.
After a DEC in nursing, Valérie-Ève Bérubé moved towards obstetrics and pediatrics, while doing a part-time bachelor’s degree at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC), all while becoming a mother four times. .
Needs to cover
Since 2019, Mme Bérubé is a clinical nurse and assistant to the immediate superior (ASI) in the youth continuum at the CIUSSS du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, at the Dolbeau-Mistassini hospital. A position that allows him to make the most of all his strengths. “The reality of remote regions is very different from that of cities or large regions,” she recalls. Thanks to this position, she can develop new services.
This is how she and her team set up an infant clinic combined with a lactation consultant clinic. “We are facing a shortage of personnel, and it is becoming difficult to meet the needs of the population,” notes Valérie-Ève Bérubé. Shaken by the fact that new parents could not get the support they needed, she helped set up these clinics in collaboration with her colleagues and regional organizations. This internal and external collaboration makes it possible to see several parents from the greater Dolbeau region at once, and to answer their needs and questions.
Better prepare fathers
Always with the desire to meet the needs of the community, Valérie-Ève Bérubé has been involved in recent years to better support fathers. It is, among other things, for this work of raising awareness and supporting fathers that Mme Bérubé has been nominated for the 2023 Florence awards.
Thus was born the Road to Fatherhood, a project which aims to support men in their co-parenting. In collaboration with several local organizations, Valérie-Ève Bérubé was a driving force behind the design of materials to be given to future fathers. “It’s important that they know which door to knock on if they have needs,” she emphasizes. “Fathers are not just spectators, they are part of the game,” she continues.
They now receive in person (and not through the mother!) a pouch whose contents are adapted according to the region and the stage of the pregnancy. “They are happy to have something in their hands, and to be recognized and valued in their role as second parents,” says the nurse. In a fun way, but without dodging delicate questions, the information packs offer a host of tools and information on different subjects: co-parenting, budget, sexuality, birth plan for the father, etc. A website (devenirpere.ca) also offers fun videos to facilitate access to information. The program even attracted the attention of the Ministry of Family, which financed the improvement of the web platform.
Tireless, Valérie-Ève Bérubé wants to continue to support fathers in the adventure of parenthood. “Everything remains to be done with fatherhood,” she believes. Among other things, it would like to equip and inform fathers in their requests for parental leave from their employer. “There is still a lot of judgment in our corner from employers. We want fathers to know what they are entitled to, and to prepare a form that they can give to their employers,” explains M.me Berube.
Twenty years later, Valérie-Ève Bérubé has no shortage of ideas. “I hope to make a change, and I remain positive, even in the face of challenges,” she observes. It’s a shame we hear that nurses are at their wit’s end. I would like to tell them that it is so worth it! We can tip the scales, we just have to find our place,” she concludes.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.