Two fourth-year nursing students at the University of Victoria have turned a practicum at a local transition house into a personal effort to raise awareness about violence against women.
After spending some time working at Hill House Transition House, Kristina Bain and Nicole Landry decided they would go beyond the classroom to focus attention on the issue. Bain said Hill House manager Marlene Goley and their UVic instructors have given considerable support and assistance to the effort.
"Through being at Hill House, we gained some awareness about the extent of the issue of violence against women. We realized how big of an issue it was, and we wanted to raise some more awareness of it and get people talking about it.
"We learned how it's more than physical and sexual abuse, it's also emotional and psychological abuse. There are a lot of health concerns associated with it, and it affects everybody across all classes."
Bain and Landry arranged for a pair of downtown stores, Lululemon and Ococo, to help them spread the word.
"They're really open to having some ideas that evoke conversation about things that are going on in the community," Bain said. "They've been kind enough to give us their window displays for the month of November, so right now we have two window displays going on, and a community board inside of Lululemon.
"One side of the board has information about violence, and the other one has some resources that women can seek or get tips from if they think that they're in a violent relationship."
The window displays are in place until the end of the month, but the board will stay up longer, Bain said.
She said the displays, made with the help of store staff, have had a positive response.
"In the Lululemon display, there's four mannequins -- one that's supposed to represent a mom, one that's supposed to represent a police officer, one that's supposed to represent a nurse and one that's a construction worker. It's to represent that violence affects people from all walks of like."
The display includes the statistic that just six out of 100 women will report sexual abuse.
"At Ococo, there's a naked mannequin with bruises on her torso, and shorts and T-shirt on a mannequin beside her to show that bruises can be covered up very easily. And it says that today one in four women will be physically abused."
Along with informing the public, Bain and Landry are intent on bringing more about the issue to students.
"What we're also trying to do with this to get more information about how nurses can work with the issue of violence against women into the nursing curriculum at UVic," Bain said.
"Nurses do a lot of work outside hospitals. It's a job that goes into many places, and so it's important to have knowledge about how theses types of issues can affect people in those different places. The main thing that we want to do is just raise awareness, and to let people know that there are resources out there."
Valuable contact numbers are contained in the front section of phone books, Bain said.
She noted that tomorrow has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
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Gingerbread is the big attraction Thursday at the Inn at Laurel Point.
Habitat for Humanity is hosting a Gingerbread House Party from 5:30-8:30 p.m., with an impressive slate of celebrities helping out by lending their talents to a gingerbread house decorating contest,
Robert Amos, Ed Bain, Charley Beresford, Ken Kelly, Jo-Ann Roberts and Olympic gold-medal rower Adam Kreek are some of the decorators lined up. Oak Bay Mayor Chris Causton will auction off their creations. The gathering also features a "grazing" event that includes contributions from Sooke Harbour House, Swans, Vista 18, Sea Cider Vintage Cider, Vancouver Island Brewery, Echo Valley Winery and Driftwood Brewery.
Tickets are $75 each. Call 250-480-7688, ext. 106.
All proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity's efforts to build affordable homes for low-income working families in Greater Victoria..
