WELLINGTON COUNTY – A nurse practitioner working in Clifford is feeling touched after being nominated by a patient and winning an award honouring those who work toward suicide prevention.
Chantelle Koeslag, a Palmerston-born nurse practitioner with Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team, has been announced as the winner of Here4Hope’s Neil Dunsmore Power of One Award for 2024.
This annual award recognizes an individual in Wellington County whose actions have made a significant contribution to promoting life and preventing suicide, named after Dunsmore, who walked from Elora to Ottawa for mental health and suicide awareness.
Koeslag, who works in primary care much in the same role and duties as a family doctor, was nominated by a patient.
“I feel pretty humbled and grateful and honoured that a patient nominated me,” she said in a phone interview.
Working in Clifford for nine years, Koeslag said she provides primary care for about 750 patients and estimated about 20 to 30 per cent of her appointments in a week are mental health related and some times suicide comes up.
“We have to talk about safety planning and how to keep themselves safe … access for mental health services in rural Ontario isn’t quite as good as it could be,” she said, adding she likely does more follow-up appointments related to mental health because of the rural setting. “My patients, a lot of them have trouble travelling to the city where they can access different levels of care.”
A press release from Here4Hope said Koeslag’s nominator, who is anonymous, had ongoing struggles with mental health and suicidal ideation but Koeslag went above and beyond to support their mental health alongside providing physical care.
“She didn’t try to fix it, distract me or steamroll me with the bright side. She didn’t rush me out or send me away. She simply sat on the floor with me and listened. She was the first person to truly make me feel safe in the world and that I was a valuable and worthy person. Chantelle saw the light in me that I was not able to see for myself and she never gave up on me until she was able to show me the light,” the nominator said in a press release.
“It almost leaves me speechless,” Koeslag said in response to this quote. “There’s not much you can say to that, some people are going through some really hard things and sometimes all they need is somebody to listen. We can’t fix everything but we can provide an ear and we can help come up with ways to help keep themselves safe and empower themselves to become confident again.”
Koeslag said through her personal practice she tries to normalize mental wellness as something interconnected.
“I think sometimes people grow up with the belief that mental illness is a weakness whereas it’s not anymore a weakness than something physical going on,” she said.
Koeslag joins past recipients of the award including Lynn Brandwood, the Centre Wellington Minor Lacrosse Association and Myrna Hutchinson.
She will be presented with the award in person at the next county council meeting on Thursday Sept. 26.
