Eleanor grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, valuing community cooperation and connection to the land. Her nursing career was a vehicle that nurtured her desire to help people. As an adult learner she completed her degree in nursing and a master’s of science, focusing on Community Health Administration and Wellness Promotion. She worked in clinical areas of pediatrics, intensive care and community care.
While working as staff development coordinator, she was part of a team which developed the Emergency Cardiac Care system in Saskatoon. As an administrator of the Cooperative Health Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, she initiated and supported programs such as a community palliative care, sexual health for teens, and Iskwew: Women Helping Women, which supports survivors of violence.
As a researcher with Department of Family Medicine in Saskatoon, she was involved in an inner-city project that encouraged healthy lifestyles. She taught Community Nursing at BCIT and the University of Victoria. Eleanor’s way of getting to know a community was to volunteer, which she did when she moved to Victoria in 2005 by becoming one of the leaders for the Esquimalt 10k Clinic, rekindling the Esquimalt Lantern Festival in 2009, and becoming a Director with Esquimalt Residents’ Association, providing community leadership with the Resilient Streets Project. She was also Team Lead for the Memorial Park Music Festival.
Her board experience includes Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan (president), and since 2015, she has served on the Esquimalt Neighbourhood House board.