2025 Winners

Dr. Jamie DiCasmirro is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at Lakehead University and serves as Director of the Centre for Education and Research on Positive Youth Development. Caroline Sabotig is Simulation Lab Coordinator at Lakehead University. Together they are developing a virtual simulation module that offers a dual-perspective co-created with a young person with lived experience of suicidality, alongside nursing and psychology students and faculty promoting interprofessional collaboration and offering a psychologically safe space to practice complex communication and assessment skills.

Looking at Now: What is the Nursing Innovation Grant?

The RNFOO Nursing Innovation Grants offer funding of up to $10,000 to an individual nurse or a nurse-led team that has a new and original idea, method, program and/or service that will enhance nursing practice, nursing education, or the nursing work environment.

It is expected that the innovation will be completed within twelve months of the winner receiving funding. Recipients of grants will be required to provide a progress report after 6 months, and a final report (with financial details) after 1 year.

The Foundation has a solid base of volunteers ready, willing and able to review proposals, determine winners, and oversee the completion of projects.

Looking Forward: Where We’re Going

RNFOO is seeking individuals, organizations, and corporations with the vision and commitment to sustain this vital work. If you are a donor who values innovation in nursing and the future of healthcare, we invite you to connect with us.

Looking Back: Where We Were

The precursor to the NIG was the Nurse Innovator Award (NIA),  a 5-year program conceived by the Honorary Life Members of the RNFOO to enable, encourage, support, and celebrate nursing innovation. The initial fundraising campaign recruited individuals and organizations, enabling RNFOO to distribute $404,000+ to innovative and entrepreneurial nurses in Ontario from 2019 through 2023. The projects supported through the NIA covered the breadth of nursing in Ontario, dealing with Pediatrics to Long Term Care, covering sites from Ottawa in the east, Sudbury in the north, and Cambridge in the south-west, and including all nursing designations: RPN, RN, and RN-EC.

Project descriptions and reports from the Nurse Innovator Award winners are listed below.

The story of the beginning of the NIA can be read in the March 2020 Longwoods Blog Nurse Innovator Award: Enabling Nursing Creativity & Innovation. A report on the program was presented at the ICN conference in July 2023. And we’re not finished telling the story yet!