Diane Bewick
Diane Bewick works with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, as the Director, Family Health Services and as the agencies Senior Nurse Leader. Family Health Services ensure the provision of numerous prevention, promotion and treatment programs to families in Middlesex and London through a variety of inter-professional models. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Health Science.
Diane graduated from the University of Toronto (BScN, 1976) and the University of Western Ontario (MScN, 1984; DPA, 2003). She is nationally certified in Community Health Nursing (2007). She received the Sigma Theta Tau award for Nursing Leadership in 2001. Practice environments includes hospital, home care, public health and academia and she particularly interested in strategies which bring about the promotion of health prevention of illness.
Part of Diane’s leadership role has included active participation on numerous Boards and Task Forces which include Community Health Centres, Children’s Mental Health Treatment Centres, CCACs, OPHA (Ontario Public Health Association), ANDSOOHA (Public Health Nursing Management Group) and Mission Services of London. She was a member of the RNAO Task Force which developed the National Best Practice Guidelines for Nursing Leadership, participated on the Advisory Panel for the National Nurse Practitioner Initiative and is currently involved in the Southwest LHIN direction setting task force on Children and Youth. She currently sits on the Provincial Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Committee assisting in the development of Family Health Teams across the Province.
She was a member of the Ontario Public Health Capacity Review Committee established by the Provincial Medical Officer of Health and Minister of Health and Long Term Care to examine the governance, structure, human resources and funding of public health units. Recommendations have been submitted to the MOHLT on the future of public health and await Ministry response.
Although Diane has practiced in many health and nursing fields her first love will always be public health. Working with a wide diversity of providers in a autonomous setting focused, on prevention and promotion, provides the opportunity to look at health from a broad systems perspective in addition to ensuring the vital details are in place to provide quality services.