Catherine Boudreau, RN, MScN
North Bay, ON
Person with Lived Experience
North Bay, ON
CWHHA member since January 2024.
Biography
Catherine Boudreau (RN, MScN, Health Services and Policy Research diploma) is a retired Nursing Faculty. Catherine lives in Northern Ontario.
Catherine was a full-time nursing educator for 20 years. Community health/public health and population health were the main focus of Catherine’s teaching assignment. During her time in Nursing Education, Catherine participated in special projects such as the Interprofessional education project funded through Health Force Ontario and Biigiieweyan–Indigenous Interprofessional Cultural Safety training project funded by CIHR.
Catherine’s research interests include; Interprofessional Education / Collaboration, Knowledge Translation, Cultural Safety and Community Health Nursing. Part time online teaching is now part of Catherine’s semi-retired life. Prior to nursing education, Catherine worked in community nursing and diabetes education for Nipissing First Nation for 6 years and the North Bay Parry Sound Health unit for 10 years. Catherine has a passion for community health nursing, health promotion and upstream prevention. Advocacy, education and knowledge translation have always been a focus of her nursing career.
Catherine has lived experience with heart disease, her story began in 2016;
“After some time (10-12 months) denying some heart symptoms, I finally reported chest discomfort with exertion to my concussion rehab team. A referral to a cardiologist and some routine testing indicated some abnormalities. Until that point, I was fully convinced that what I thought could be heart pain couldn’t possibly be real. Being a woman, I think contributed to me not reporting the pain in my chest and shoulders when I walked up hills. In the back of my mind, I thought that I would be told that mostly men have these issues. I had no family history of heart problems and other than carrying some extra weight I had no risk factors. I was fortunate that I was quickly referred for further tests and then referred on for an angiogram. Although my angiogram showed clear coronary arteries the cardiologist referred me to a colleague who was performing provocative angiograms in the same hospital. Six months after reporting the chest pain I underwent a provocative angiogram. At the time I was told I had an abnormal response and that the specific diagnosis was vague. I came to know in the years after this that I have coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), coronary endothelial dysfunction and likely microvascular spasm. Given that many people around the world live with symptoms for a long time before a diagnosis I consider myself very fortunate. In the past 7 years I have lived with recurrent angina pain and have been managed with various medications. My quality of life is impacted, I retired early from teaching nursing for health reasons. My day-to-day activities are modified so that I can make the most of everyday. The published evidence on this condition is increasing, which is great. I must say though that living with a condition that is poorly recognized is not easy”.
Catherine is a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister, she enjoys watercolour painting, walking the dog, cycling, kayaking and snowshoeing. Catherine loves livingin Northern Ontario. Being born andraised in North Bay ON, it is important to acknowledge that Catherine has had the privilege of living, learning and working on the traditional territory of the Nbissing people on the shores on Lake Nipissing.
