Friends and Family Name Bench in Memory of Humber Nurse Tanya Meikle


September 21, 2022

“Family was extremely important to her,” says Tanya’s spouse Brian.

Tanya was truly a beautiful soul who died way too soon.

“Family was extremely important to her,” says Tanya’s spouse Brian. “She loved spending time with her two dads as she like to call them, Willy and Ken. She loved her mom immensely and in the past few years started taking care of her due to Alzheimer. The care Tanya provided to her mom carried over to her patients at HRH. Tanya’s fondness and love for her siblings was second to none, her illness and subsequent death has been extremely hard for them to process.”

Tanya was a fashionista (she loved eyeglasses and shoes), she loved to traveling with her spouse, loved to bake and most of all loved calypso and soca music.

On January 11, 2022, Tanya Meikle passed away from cancer, peacefully at home with her family by her side. Tanya loved and excelled at her job as a Registered Nurse in Humber River Hospital’s Apotex Emergency Department (ED). Everyone who knew Tanya knew how much she cared about her patients and her co-workers.

Tanya's ED Team

“The biggest compliment was when staff or physicians came to Emergency as a patient themselves or with a family member it was Tanya they wanted to be their nurse,” says Jane Casey, Director of Emergency at Humber.

“The biggest compliment was when staff or physicians came to Emergency as a patient themselves or with a family member it was Tanya they wanted to be their nurse,” says Jane Casey, Director of Emergency at Humber. “Tanya was a respected nurse that staff and physicians would go to for help due to her warm and caring professional manner. Her expertise, good cheer and compassion is missed by all of the Humber Emergency family!”

“I was a Clinical Practice Leader when Tanya joined our Emergency Department and had the privilege of doing her orientation,” says Leo Zhu, an ED Manager at Humber, “She was so eager to learn and very energetic. Over the years we sometimes worked very closely together and it was clear she cared about her patients very much. She loved to laugh and have fun, but she was also serious about advocating for anything they needed.”

After Tanya passed away, Tanya’s spouse Brian started a fundraising page in her memory. Tanya’s friends and family came together to name a bench in her honour, in Humber River Hospital’s Healing Gardens just outside the Emergency Department. In August, surrounded by Brian, Tanya’s family, her colleagues, and her friends, Humber River Hospital Foundation unveiled Tanya’s bench and plaque.

Tanya's Family poses with her bench

“It feels fantastic that we’ve given back to the Hospital and the community she held dear to her heart.” says Brian.

“Tanya loved her job very much, so I wanted to keep her memory alive there,” says Brian. “She will live on at Humber. That was very important to me. It feels fantastic that we’ve given back to the Hospital and the community she held dear to her heart.”

 

 

Tribute gifts are one of many ways families like Tanya’s choose to honour and remember their loved ones. To make an In Memory donation, click here or contact Saneh Singh, Senior Officer, Annual Giving at sansingh@hrh.ca or phone at (416) 242-1000 ext. 81517.

Thank you to Tanya’s family for sharing her story and for choosing to support Humber River Hospital Foundation.

 

 

Tanya's Bench. The Inscription Reads: In Memory of Tanya Meikle, AKA Nurse Betty