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Nan Cleator recognized with VON Canada Award for contributions to VON’s COVID-19 response

VON Canada awarded Nan Cleator, with a national VON Canada Award of Distinction at a virtual awards ceremony on September 25, 2020. In addition to being recognized for her exemplary contributions to VON’s work in home and community care, Nan was celebrated for being instrumental in shaping VON’s COVID-19 response, which keeps front-line care providers and their clients safe. 

Nan Cleator has been supporting excellence at VON for 30 years. As National Practice Consultant, she helps to guide the practices that health care providers use in the field as they deliver homecare. Nan has deep experience with Infection Prevention and Control (‘IPAC’). Over her career she has actively participated in IPAC associations in Ontario, Nova Scotia and nationally, and has been a member of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Expert Working Group since 2003, where she has brought the home and community care perspective to the Agency’s national infection prevention and control guidelines. As well, she has helped develop national guidelines for IV therapy and vascular access.

“It is an honour to be recognized for this award, and I am especially humbled to be recognized by my colleagues and VON’s leaders,” said Nan Cleator. “I would like to share this award with one of the most exemplary teams I have worked with, VON’s Practice, Quality & Risk Team, as well as VON’s local site teams of front-line experts who bring my work to life in the field. Together, we accomplish so much.”

Nan was recognized alongside four other national VON award recipients, all hailing from Nova Scotia: Joy Saunders of Lunenberg, Robert Estabrooks of Cumberland, and Carlton Sanford of Halifax. This year’s recipients are shining examples of VON’s values of Respect, Compassion and Excellence, and their work has had an immeasurable impact in our community.

In addition to the four annual awards, VON added a fifth award category for 2020: The COVID-19 Excellence Awards, which recognized several VON teams for their efforts in the home and community care sector during the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.