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They are the unsung heroes who make a difference every day in the lives of QEII Health Sciences Centre patients and resident veterans at the Veterans' Memorial Building. Nurses, technicians, care-givers and support staff, physicians and porters – the list is lengthy, and so is the commitment to helping those who need it most.

Recognizing these individuals, and at the same time helping fund health care at the QEII, is the reason behind the newly-launched Angels in Action program. Already underway at the Veterans' Memorial Building and at the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre, Angels in Action provides grateful patients and their families - and even peer-to-peer - an opportunity to recognize those caregivers that make a real difference. Recognition comes in the form of a presentation of a lapel pin designating the recipient an Angel in Action. The process is simple: nominators complete a form naming their angel and providing a brief description of the reasons behind the nomination. The completed form, along with a donation to better health care at the QEII, are returned to the QEII Foundation who organize a surprise "pinning" for the recipient, and issue a tax receipt for the donor.

"It's a formula to both applaud those folks who often don't receive the recognition they deserve," says the QEII Foundation's Katharine Berrington, "and at the same time help raise funds for the health sciences centre."

January marked the first pinning and celebration for the Angels in Action program when Dianne Sutherland was pinned with her Angel wings.

Dianne is a veteran when it comes to staff service at the QEII Health Sciences Centre having spent 22 years working for the health centre. In her current role in the Business Office at the Veterans' Memorial Building, Dianne helps Veterans with managing their personal finances and overseeing their accounts. "It is truly a privilege to provide service to the many Veterans," says Dianne, "I just love working with them and coming to work every day really is a pleasure. I am so shocked and delighted to receive this honour."

Dianne may have been shocked at her surprise pinning but her manager David Kersey was anything but shocked. "From the first day we met, Dianne has exhibited kindness, caring, selflessness and a real interest in the people with whom she interacts; truly a person with great generosity of spirit, who exemplifies the meaning of our promise and someone with whom I am very proud to work."

Angels in Action is the first such program in eastern Canada, modelled after a similar venture at the Ottawa Hospital dubbed Guardian Angels. The QEII Foundation has high hopes Angels in Action will be a hit and bring both recognition to care providers and funds to the health sciences centre. "It's certainly a 'feel good' kind of program," said Berrington. "It's so popular in Ottawa that some staff at the Ottawa Hospital have been pinned on numerous occasions. The lapel pins become quite a badge of honour. They've experienced over one thousand pinning ceremonies and raised some much needed funds."

Berrington hopes to have the program fully rolled out across the QEII by spring, with nomination forms available at numerous sites around the QEII Health Sciences Centre.

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