International Womens Day 2026: Fraser Health spotlights women whose work built healthier communities
Fraser Health is marking international womens day 2026 by highlighting staff whose expertise and compassion underpin care across its system. More than 83 per cent of Fraser Health employees identify as women, and the authority is using the occasion to surface stories of innovation, cultural safety and expanding access. These profiles come from acute care, community clinics, research teams and peer support programs across the Fraser Salish region.
International Womens Day 2026: Staff highlights
At the centre of the feature is a roster of named health workers and the roles they hold: Retired Registered Nurse Sheila Early, recognized for advancing forensic nursing and co-founding B. C. ‘s first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program at Surrey Memorial Hospital; Spiritual Health Practitioner Rhonda Davison, who provides holistic support; and Nurse Practitioner Lisa Helgeson, who serves patients at a new clinic in Harrison Hot Springs. The release lists clinical researchers and frontline clinicians whose work targets care quality and access.
Clinical and research work called out includes Intensive Care Unit Dietitian Courtney Wedemire and Clinical Nurse Specialist Fiona Howarth, whose research on sedation and nutrition aims to improve ICU outcomes; Clinical Teaching Unit Medical Director Dr. Birinder Mangat and her team, training clinicians to use point-of-care ultrasound for timely bedside information; and Clinical Research Lead Dr. Grace Park with Registered Nurse and Regional Project Lead Margaret Lin, who are advancing grant-funded social prescribing projects to help older adults age in place by connecting them to community resources.
Community and peer support roles are also foregrounded: Administrative Assistant Carmen Letexier shares a journey toward greater cultural safety across the organization; Nurse Practitioner Danielle Mlinaritsch bolsters internal medicine teams at Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre; Clinical Coordinator Selena Moore focuses on building trusting relationships between providers and Indigenous people; and Muriel Pete, known as “Head Thunderbird Woman” and “Sum La wat, ‘Bee'”, brings lived experience into peer support at a low-barrier recovery community centre. The feature notes that this year’s Above and Beyond awards included many women whose contributions have lasting impact, naming Health Care Assistant Lindsey Vukicevic among honourees.
Immediate reactions and institutional framing
Fraser Health framed the package as a recognition of how staff across roles contribute to healthier communities. The organization emphasized its dedication to serving Indigenous people and honoured that it provides care on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Coast Salish and Nlaka’pamux Nations, and that the region is home to 32 First Nations within the Fraser Salish region. The profiles present individual paths and program work tied to clinical training, community outreach and culturally safe care.
What’s next
Fraser Health’s collection of profiles signals institutional priorities that include spreading clinical skills such as point-of-care ultrasound, advancing research into sedation and nutrition in intensive care, and expanding social prescribing to keep older adults connected to community supports. The package also underlines ongoing work toward cultural safety and stronger relationships with First Nations, Métis and Inuit people living within the Fraser Salish region. As Fraser Health continues to highlight staff work, international womens day 2026 will remain a focal point for elevating individual stories that connect daily practice to longer-term improvements in care.
