Helen Glass Award

I do not remember ever wanting to be anything else but a nurse. Although, I must say, as a young person, I was totally unaware of what nurses do. I knew I wanted to help people, and so that meant nursing. After I graduated from high school, I actually had someone say to me “You will never make it through nurse’s training”. Funny how a comment like that made me sure I was going to be a nurse!

I have had a wonderful career. Thus, it easier for me to express what nursing has done for me over the years, and why I continue in this profession. I have worked by the bedside, mostly on a very busy medical ward, dabbled in Home Care, and spent a good chunk of time as a Diabetes Educator. By some fluke, I was sought after for a position at the applied research unit at Brandon University in 1992. Perhaps it was only because I was available (I had been working casual as my first child was little). Whatever the reason, my interest in research was sparked and has not waned. I love learning from the ‘client’ and applying that to the rigors of research and then sharing the information with others.

I have found nursing to be so varied and interesting. My nursing degree has opened doors for me that were beyond my imagination. So, although I went into nursing naive to what it was all about, it has provided me the career of my dreams.