I’m Kate Dewhirst.

My team and I write about legal issues affecting healthcare in Canada.

Kate Dewhirst Health Law - bringing the law to life. Meet Kate (in 13 seconds)

In Memoriam – My sister Beth Ferkranus

Posted by

It is with great sadness that I announce my little sister, Beth Ferkranus, passed away over the holidays.  It was sudden and completely unexpected.  We are all devastated.  You can read her Obituary here.

I want to thank everyone for your kindness and the outpouring of love we have received.

Some of you know that my sisters are triplets. Beth was #2, born 6 minutes after Kit and 6 minutes before Erin.  I was 20 months old when they were born.  I have always felt very protective of my sisters.  I used to count them 1-2-3 to make sure they were all there.  As we grew, we have remained extremely close as a family.  We are grateful for all the time we had together.

(Kit on the left, then Erin, then Bethie on the right)

My sister was a high school drama teacher.  Over the last few days we have heard countless stories from her students of how she changed their lives and in some cases saved their lives.  She saw and nurtured greatness in all her students. Over 500 people attended her funeral including many of her students, former students and their parents as well as teachers from her school and representatives from every age and stage of her life.   It was an extravaganza that she would have loved.

Beth leaves a legacy of kindness.  She was co-founder of Positively Kind, through which she and my other sisters facilitated random acts of kindness and taught others how to do the same.

Our focus is now on her daughters, Emma (14) and Isabelle (10) and her husband, Derek. A GoFundMe campaign has been established for her children’s education fund.  

There are no words to express the profound sadness I feel.  I am grateful we were able to surround her with love and song in her final hours.

Bethie, we miss you. We love you.


If you enjoyed this article please share it:


Previous and next posts from Kate:

Some of Kate’s recent and upcoming events

Free healthcare privacy webinar - ask me anything!
the first Wednesday of every month

Free webinars - advance registration needed

Whether you're an experienced privacy officer or new in the field, pick Kate’s brain for free for an hour, in this live webinar. No charge, but you’ll need to register in advance.

Health Privacy Officer Foundations training
starts March 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations.

This course focuses on how to become a more confident privacy officer and gives you the tools to document your privacy program. Full details and registration here...

Join the Shush: a collective of health privacy officers
Annual membership 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations

This is an annual membership program that takes theory into practice and tackles real life scenarios to build Privacy Officer skills.
Full details and registration here.

Primary care webinars: Employment Law Update & Legal Issues for EDs and Board members

Part of Kate’s monthly webinar series.

Our 2024 program is now live.
Full details of the 2024 webinar series and registration here.

Mental Health webinars: Legal issues for mental health and addictions agencies and teams
Annual membership 2024

For managers and other leaders from mental health and addictions agencies, hospitals, CMHAs, CHCs, school boards, FHTs and Indigenous health services

This is an annual membership program with monthly webinars.
Full details and registration here.

Team Privacy Training Events

For Primary Care clinics, Hospitals, Community Agencies, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Units, School Boards, Police departments

Scheduled to your team's needs for comprehensive or refresher training More details...

Free summary of all PHIPA IPC decisions

Want to read privacy breach stories to learn how to improve your work? We have summarized all the Information and Privacy Commissioner's health privacy decisions for you Download here...

Kate Dewhirst Health Law

Kate says:

My mission is bringing the law to life. I make legal theory understandable, accessible and fun! I’m available and love to work for all organizations in the healthcare sector across Ontario and beyond.

Subscribe to my mailing list and keep up to date with news:

Latest Tweets

  • Our twitter feed is unavailable right now. Follow us on Twitter
  • contact details

    P.O. Box 13024, RPO Bradford Centre
    Bradford, ON, L3Z 2Y5

    (416) 855 9557

    .