Helen Mussallem

“Canada’s most distinguished nurse in her time and generation”. That’s how Britain’s prestigious Royal College of Nursing described Dr. Mussallem, this issue’s personality in our series on outstanding achievers of Lebanese descent.  With this latest promotion to the highest grade of Companion of the order of Canada, Dr. Mussallem continues to add honors to an already extraordinary curriculum. Her father, Solomon Mussallem was born in Karoun and later went to live in Zahle. Angered by the then prevailing persecutions, he and 20 of his friends, planned a daring escape. The escape bid took them through dangerous territory and into the hands of the Turkish army. But the party managed to board a boat at Tyre, which took them to freedom and Canada via Port Said and Marseilles. The year was 1987. Solomon Mussallem was 17 years of age when he landed at Carlton Place, near Ottawa. He had 50 cents in his pocket. He married a Lebanese girl, the sister of the friend who had inspired his escape. He became a businessman with a great interest in politics. He died at the age of 81 after serving as mayor of Maple Ridge for 22 years. “ My father was a very proud of his Lebanese origin” said Dr. Mussallem in a recent interview with the newsletter; “ Although he was keen on raising us as Canadians to avoid the anti foreigners resentment during those days, at home we have always kept the Lebanese customs alive; the Kibbe was on the menu every Sunday followed by the Arguile. As a child Dr. Mussallem thought her father’s adventure story was dry and farfetched. But after spending three weeks visiting every part of Lebanon in 1964, including the Cedars and the grave of Khalil Gibran, she began to appreciate its veracity, and the great beauty of the country where it was enacted. “ The Bekaa Valley is breathtakingly beautiful” she says, “ I thought Switzerland and Vancouver were tops as far as natural beauty was concerned. But now I realize that Lebanon is more beautiful”. After a day at Baalbeck she said, “ I always used to look at ruins with little interest; but these are the grandest ruins I have ever seen. Never before had I had this sense of integration with history”. Dr. Mussallem was born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. After beginning he outstanding career as staff nurse at the Vancouver General Hospital, she served overseas in WW2 as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Baccalaureate Degree at McGill University, her Masters and Doctorate Degrees at Columbia University (New York). She has been awarded the honorary doctorates from four other universities; Queen’s University, Memorial University, the University of New Brunswick, and Mcmaster University. Following active service in Canada and overseas, Dr. Mussallem became director of nursing education at the Vancouver General Hospital School of nursing with affiliation with the University of B.C. In 1957 she was selected to become the director of the Pilot Project for Evaluation of Schools of Nursing in Canada by the Canadian Nurses Association. Her analysis and the report for the project “ spotlight on nursing education” has become an landmark in Canadian nursing and health services and spearheaded the drive to have all nursing education within the general educational system of Canada. Subsequently Dr. Mussallem became director of Special Studies at which time she was seconded to the Royal Commission on Health Services to conduct its study of nursing education in Canada. She was Executive Director of the Canadian Nurses Association from 1963 to 1981. Dr. Mussallem has carried out over 30 international assignments and missions. Past and present she has been Advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization, and the International Council of Nurses. Dr. Mussallem’s involvement in these international assignments led her to visit many countries around the world where she chaired conferences, gave lectures and consulted to seminars on nursing and nursing education. One of her assignments with WHO led her to Lebanon in 1970 where she made a survey of  Nursing and Nursing education. Many honours have been conferred on Dr. Mussallem for her distinguished service to nursing and health in Canada and abroad. In addition to four honorary Doctorates she has been named a Dame of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom, Honorary member of seven Provincial Nursing Associations and the Northwest Territories Association, awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal of the International Red Cross, has received the Centennial Medal (1967), the Queen Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), has received the Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nursing Research and Scholarship, Colulmbia University, USA; Has received the Jeanne Mance Award; and has had the National Nursing Library named in her honor by the Canadian Nursing Association now known as the “ Helen K. Mussallem Library”. In 1969 she was made an Officer of the order of Canada and in 1992 she received her most prestigious award when she made Companion of the Order of Canada. During her period when Dr. Mussallem was executive director of the Canadian Nurses Association (1963-1981) and up to the present she has over 40 publications to her credit and is considered one of the most prolific and scholarly writers in the health field. A recent book entitled “ Succeeding Together: Group Action By Nurses” continued to be a best International Council of Nurses and released on English, French, and Spanish. Presently Dr. Mussallem is a special advisor to national and international health related organizations. Amongst the many national and international organizations with which she works are : the World Health Organization, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Commonwealth Foundation, London, England; the Canadian Public Health Association ( International Health Committee).