JESSICA CELESTE
Regional Council Member/Co-Chair Candidate
Election 2020
VOTING INFORMATION
August 18, 2020
The BCNU Nominations Committee will be hosting a live telephone town hall event this afternoon at 1300 (PDT), giving candidates running for both executive councillor positions the chance to answer questions from members directly. To make it easy to participate, you will receive an automated call between 1245 and 1315 on the number you have indicated as your ‘primary’ phone number on the BCNU Member Portal. To join, all you need to do is answer the call and you will be placed directly into the town hall event.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. Your participation is important to us!
If you have not received a call by 1315, please try dialling in manually using the following toll-free numbers, starting with the primary number noted below [NOTE: You may have to attempt a few times due to high volumes].
PRIMARY toll-free line: 1-800-320-7723
Secondary toll-free line: 1-800-368-8220
If you are calling in locally, you may also try:
Primary local number: 778-715-0629
Secondary local number: 778-715-0542
2. Cell phones are NOT stable.
The service provider strongly encourages all participants to join the call from a landline, where possible. Cell phones are not as stable and reliable as landlines – something that is entirely out of the control of both BCNU and the telephone town hall service provider. From weak signals coming from the nearest tower to too many active users sharing the same signal at that given point in time, it is important that you are aware of the potential for your call to be spontaneously dropped mid-way through the event.
3. Disconnected? Don’t panic.
In the event that you are disconnected, you can try dialling back in using the toll-free numbers listed above
ABOUT ME
I am respectfully submitting my name for Regional Council Member/Co-Chair representing South Islands Region for the 2020-2023 term. I have extensive experience as a Union activist, beginning as a worksite Steward over 30 years ago. I am passionate about advocating for patients and clients, and for a safe and healthy workplace, including staffing, and reasonable workload for our members. If elected, I will:
* Continue to advocate for safe workload and violence free worksites
* Ensure members have easy access to equipment and supplies in order to provide safe patient care
* Work with the Provincial Executive Leadership and Council to ensure that BCNU's vision, mission, strategic directions are upheld and clearly communicated to the members
* Continue to be democratic and transparent in the decision making process to foster a culture of excellence inspired by a common goal
* Lead in promoting awareness of diversity of our membership and promote positive, inclusive culture and sense of unity.
FAMILY LIFE & VALUES
My life has always been surrounded by my family where I get all the energy I need. This is my source of care, support and love that serve as a compass that guides me. My family's values is always "being there, no matter what, through thick and thin". Our closeness creates the center of communication that gives the inspiration to reach great heights and our comfort when we occasionally falter.
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
My Studies
I have been privileged in obtaining a good education. When it comes to learning, I know that this is not just restricted to theories or traditional academic institutions, but developing experience, skills and have a sound critical thinking skills. As a professional nurse, I have had the opportunity to learn from all kinds of sources, including mentors, colleagues, surrounding leaders from our Union and even from those who are not in my field at all. All of this has helped me become the person I am today, which is why I hold it in such high regard. Want to know me more? See my accomplishments below.
September 2004 to June 2006
MASTERS DEGREE IN EDUCATION IN LEADERSHIP STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, VICTORIA BC
This is an on site class at UVIC designed for graduates who are looking to advance the capacity to lead and inspire others in my choice of specialization (nursing field) with the ability to educate,, or create a final project that make an important connections between theory and practice.
January 2005 to June 2006
CERTIFICATE IN ADVANCED STUDIES IN MENTAL HEALTH, MT. ROYAL UNIVERSITY, CALGARY
An on line course that can be taken part time to provide a RN, RPN or Social Worker in expanding the experience, updates in the area of mental health in youth psychiatry, adult and senior psychiatry as well as addiction challenges.
September 1994 to June 1996
BACHELORS DEGREE IN NURSING, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, VICTORIA BC
Bridge in to Nursing Degree
September 1980 to June 1982
DIPLOMA IN REGISTERED NURSING, CAMOSUN COLLEGE, LANSDOWNE CAMPUS, VICTORIA BC
A 2-year Nursing Diploma
PAST EXPERIENCE
March 2020 to present
FULL TIME STEWARD, ROYAL JUBILEE HOSPITAL
September 2018 to March 2020
FULL TIME STEWARD AT LARGE, SOUTH ISLAND, VICTORIA BC
September 2012 to February 2017; September 2017 to August 2018
STEWARD LIAISON, EXECUTIVE ROLE, SOUTH ISLANDS
February 2017 to September 2017
ACTING REGIONAL COUNCIL MEMBER/CO-CHAIR FOR SOUTH ISLANDS, VICTORIA BC
September 2007 to 2016
PROVINCIAL CHAIR OF THE MOSAIC OF COLOUR CAUCUS
September 2007 to present
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE MOSAIC OF COLOUR CAUCUS, SOUTH ISLANDS
January to October 2012
BARGAINING COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE COMMUNITY
since June 1987
WORKSITE STEWARD
CONTACT
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
Winston S. Churchill
ENDORSEMENTS
What They’re Saying
For my BCNU friends.
To quote Churchill, these are difficult times. We have endured working short for several years and now we are working during a pandemic, creating upheaval in many different ways. Acute Care nurses are having to wear PPE (that is not always up to IPAC standards) all day and tell angry visitors they cannot come inside; LTC nurses are caring for residents in conditions similar to jails; and Community Nurses are doing the contact tracing, the COVID testing, and going to see patients still in their homes. they are truly in the trenches of this situation, and get inadequate PPE supplies at times because people think this is a hospital based pandemic.
I have read in the Nurses Engaged Facebook page, a lot, that people think the BCNU leadership have not done enough. every time I read that, I think perhaps as one of the BCNU Member Educators and Stewards, I have not done enough to teach them how the process works. It is a slow boat to China, but the most recent contract we negotiated did the MOST for working short. I have been a nurse since 1988 and at least 2/3 of my time we have been in a working short crisis. Now is not the time to blame current Leadership for "not doing enough". Perhaps, it is not the leadership at fault, it could be that we did not fully consider the options and political climate when voting. I see too many people blaming others. I encourage you to take a quality improvement perspective and look at what we as members have contributed, and the system (negotiations etc) to see where we went astray, rather than taking the easy road of saying it is the leadership we elected who have not done enough. They have done more than any other team before them.
In the current election, I am going to vote to create a high quality team. This is achieved by considered each candidates' experience; who would work best together; and who they would be leading.
In our South Islands Region, there are two candidates with experience in the Co-Chair role (which I believe is imperative during the pandemic as our communication patterns have all been upheaved). One has been active since 2000 and in the Co-Chair role for many years, and the other has been an active steward, active Exec member for over 10 years, and she has been in the Co-Chair role a few times in an acting capacity. This is Lynnda Smith and Maria Jessica Narciso Celeste (aka Jessica Celeste).
Next, consider who works best together. Having been an active Steward for the most part of my career (first signed up as a steward in 1993) and the Region's Member Educator since 1999 (with a break for another job), I have Observed many different partnerships in the Co-Chair role. It is those two people who make the best partners who are the most effective. These effective partnerships have surprised me in the past because at times they have been people with leadership styles I am not in favour of, yet they worked very well. This is because they communicated with each other and developed roles within the partnership that were cohesive and complementary. I believe Lynnda and Jessica work well together. That is my experience with them both in the CoChair role at the same time. I have to work with the Co-Chairs, so I do believe I was in a good position to observe this.
Lastly, let’s look at the team they will be guiding. The Regional Executive. There are only a few experienced candidates, and all acclaimed. In fact, it looks like at least one position did not have any candidates. This means the team will need BCNU Chair experienced leadership to get through these challenging times.
ELEANOR ELSTON