Gail Donner & Mary Wheeler

Partners, donnerwheeler Career Planning Consultants

Gail Donner RN, PhD, Professor Emerita and former Dean in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and Partner in donnerwheeler Career Planning Consultants has had a long and varied career in nursing and health care including Professor and Dean, Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Director, Nursing Education and Research, Hospital for Sick Children, Executive Director, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and Chair, Nursing, Ryerson University. Gail is the recipient of a number of awards including the Order of Ontario, an honorary Doctor of Science from Ryerson University, the YWCA Of Toronto Woman of Distinction, the Canadian Nurses Association Jeanne Mance Award and The Ontario Medical Association Centennial Award. In 2012, she chaired the Long-Term Care Task Force on Resident Care and Safety that developed an action plan to prevent abuse and neglect in long-term care homes in Ontario and in 2014 she was appointed by the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to chair the Expert Group on Home and Community Care.

Mary Wheler is a registered nurse and a certified coach with expertise in organizational and human resource development. For almost 30 years, she has been a Partner in donnerwheeler a consulting firm specializing in designing, implementing and facilitating career development, mentoring and coaching programs and services within health care and has provided consultations in Canada and internationally. Mary is a sought after speaker and has published extensively. Mary has been active in national, provincial and local volunteer organizations and over her career has served on a number of boards and committees. She received the President’s Award, RPNAO; presented with the ICF-GTA PRISM Award, with Gail Donner, for Coaching Excellence with University Health Network (Nursing); was a Distinguished Lecturer, Sigma Theta Tau International; was nominated for the Canadian Women’s Mentor Award–Business & Professional Category; and was an invited member, First Canada/ USA Businesswomen’s Trade Summit.

Through their phenomenal partnership, Gail and Mary have had a huge impact on the nursing community as well as so many others. Here are three takeaways:

Key takeaways:

If you don’t ask, you wont get
“Step off the curb, it doesn’t have to be the cliff” : Take a step forward; instead of thinking about the risk, think about doing something meaningful and step out of your comfort zone.
One way to address employee retention is to invest in your staff and their career development, which will help them find more meaning in their work

Be sure to check out their podcast “Nurses Voices”, which is a unique new video and audio series that will amplify the voices of nurses to help them adapt and excel within these changing and uncertain times. They feature conversations with a diverse group of Canadian nurses from a variety of workplaces.