SPONSORED BY SEARLE’S SHOES
Betty Tate came to the Comox Valley in 2005 to teach at North Island College.
The plan was for Betty and her husband, Max Fletcher, to return to Victoria after Betty’s 2013 retirement.
Fortunately for the entire Comox Valley, those plans changed.
Betty recognized a greater need for her here, and stayed.
She has barely had a day off since.
If she’s not working as part of the leadership team for the Comox Valley
Coalition to End Homelessness, she’s busy with the creation and development of a Community Health Network, which is scheduled to launch this spring.
What motivates her?
“Mostly, it’s about social justice, fairness, equity – I’m passionate about all of it. I really believe that it’s up people in the communities to make a difference,” Betty said.
She credits her own family life for enstilling such values into her at a young age.
“My parents have a lot to do with it,” she said. “I grew up in a home where there was lots of dinnertime conversations, and discussing what people believed in.”
Betty said her nursing background gave her a renewed compassion for people, and she wants to continue to help any way she can.
“Getting into nursing and my experience in nursing gave me an understanding of the different situations people get into… the circumstances in their lives. It’s all about context. People are born into privilege often, and some people have a better shake at it than other. Everybody deserves the best. Everybody is human.”
Betty has also been instrumental in keeping nurses in the Comox Valley in touch with one another by spearheading the Comox Valley Association of Registered Nurses of BC.
And when will Betty stop championing the cause?
“Probably never,” she said. “I get as much out of it as anyone else does.”
The Comox Valley is a benefactor of Betty Tate’s desire to make a difference.
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