We are Niagara Health is a series of stories that celebrates the incredible people working and volunteering in our organization and how they make a difference in the lives of patients and coworkers every day.
Francie Davidson, Clinical Manager of Critical Care at Marotta Family Hospital, first got her start in healthcare as a candy striper at the former St. Catharines General Hospital in 1987.
At 12-years-old, Francie Davidson might have been Niagara Health’s youngest-ever volunteer.
It was the foundation of her lifelong career working at the hospital, where she began volunteering as a candy striper at the old St. Catharines General Hospital on Queenston Street.
“I would go floor to floor and ask nurses if they needed help with anything,” she recalls of the four years she was a candy striper. “Nothing was electronic back then, so doctors’ orders were written on paper and put into a bin that myself and other candy stripers would take down to the pharmacy. That would never happen today – letting 12-year-olds walk around with prescriptions, taking samples to the lab, holding and feeding babies. It was a different time.”
It was also one of the fondest times of Davidson’s life, marking the beginning of her journey towards becoming a registered nurse. During her candy striper era, she would start on the sixth floor – pediatrics – and work her way down. She spent a lot of time on the chronic care floor, feeding and reading to patients and helping them look and feel their best.
“I learned how to shave a man’s face at a very young age and paint ladies’ fingernails,” she says. “It was the greatest thing.”
Davidson always knew she wanted to help people, but didn’t always know in what way. When candy striping opened her eyes to nursing, her decision was simple. The profession captivated her.
“I was all in,” she says.
Following her experience as a candy striper, Davidson pursued a nursing co-op in high school before going to nursing school. She graduated in the late 90s, a time when there weren’t local nursing jobs. Davidson recalls knocking on the office door of a manager at the old hospital in search of an opening.
"A lot of people have asked, ‘Why go into nursing? It’s so hard.’ But I always look at the positives."
“The person was quite cold, and I was told pretty frankly that if I wanted a shot as a nurse, I should take an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) course and to essentially not come back until I did.”
There was an ACLS course taking place in Toronto the following weekend, for which Davidson promptly registered. When she passed, she returned to the manager’s office and knocked on the door with one hand and the certificate in the other.
“She was like, ‘Okay, I have to hire you.’ And she did. It was a casual position. I was thrilled.”
A year later, she managed to get a full-time job working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She stayed there for 22 years.
Finding a home in ICU
“I was at a point where there wasn’t really anything new for me to learn in the ICU,” Davidson says. “My manager, Elayn Young, encouraged me to consider a career change to leadership. I had already been a charge nurse in the ICU, but my heart was always in it for the patients.”
Still, when the Cardiology Clinical Manager Cardiology position came up in 2021, Davidson was intrigued. That curiosity turned into a new path in her career journey before returning to the ICU in December when she took over the clinical manager post from Toni Rogers, who retired.
The path she carved for herself has been followed by her daughter, Lauren Davidson, who works in the ICU at the Niagara Falls Hospital.
“My daughter has always been interested in everything I’ve done. It’s such an honour. A lot of people have asked, ‘Why go into nursing? It’s so hard.’ But I always look at the positives. My daughter is very much the same. She wants to see the best in everyone and help whoever she can. I never once discouraged her from going into nursing. She went to nursing school at Western University and was recruited at the hospital there, but she said, ‘I’m going back home to St. Catharines.’ I’m extremely proud.”
Davidson brings her passion and empathy to everything she does. As the Clinical Manager of Cardiology, she oversaw five different areas of the department at Niagara Health – the cardiac care unit, cardiac rehab, heart function clinic, heart investigation unit and telemetry.
“The goal was to bring more and more programs and procedures to Niagara so patients don’t have to go out of region for care,” she says. “We’re working relentlessly to bring care closer to home.”
Returning to the ICU has been like a homecoming.
“It’s wonderful to be back. I really feel at home. I understand the challenges that are happening. I feel I can advocate for staff because I know what it is like. I was one of them not that long ago,” Davidson says. “Being away for three years was a great opportunity for me to grow as a leader and then come back and support staff.”
One of the most rewarding parts of being in leadership, she says, is now being in a position to hire nurses. With a significant changeover in ICU nursing staff since the pandemic, it’s also been fulfilling to assist, uplift and get to know her team.
“I focus on the recruitment and retention of nurses in all of my areas,” she says. “If there are nurses out there that I see potential in, I will do what I can to see that they’re successful in obtaining a job. I remember what it took for me to get my start, and now, we can’t recruit fast enough. I don’t want anyone to walk away from nursing if I can help it. It’s a fabulous career, profession and honour.”
