Getting to Know PFA: Tia Cooney
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April 13, 2019
Tia Cooney has been a Patient and Family Advisor (PFA) since August 2018, working specifically as the PFA in the Women’s and Children’s Program.
Tia was born and raised in Thunder Bay and continues to live here with her husband and two sons. She is a Registered Nurse who has previously worked at TBRHSC on the Maternal Newborn Unit and as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Women’s and Children’s Program. She is currently is a nursing professor.
In her personal and professional life, Tia has strived to improve the lives of people in her community through volunteering. She currently is a Peer Facilitator for the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network, an Executive Board Member for the Lakehead Chapter of Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and a Virtual Researcher on Call.
Tia decided to become a PFA as a way to use her personal experiences of being a patient and mother using the Women’s and Children’s Program units at TBRHSC, and other hospitals in Southern Ontario, to improve the quality of care provided to patients and families, and also to enhance positive experiences for patients and families when they are in their most vulnerable state.
Currently, Tia is working on a variety of projects such as reviewing policies and procedures, patient handouts and discharge sheets, improving emotional support for those experiencing pregnancy and infant loss in the Emergency Department, and attending the program’s council meetings. Tia is also working with a provincial committee called Pumps for Preemies which will be providing hospital grade breast pumps to those families in the community who have premature newborns.
Tia looks forward to making a difference in the lives of the patients and families using the services at TBRHSC in the next many years to come.