TD Aboriginal Nursing Fund Award – PhD

I am so proud to be a Canadian Nurses Foundation (CNF) Scholar again! This scholarship will further support my work through the dissertation phase at the University of Victoria’s PhD Nursing Program.  Presently I am engaged in learning the stories of my community and First Nation people who are living through kidney health challenges.  This has become my heartfelt passion as I have seen too many of my own family, friends and community members who are struggling with this condition.  For this reason, I feel compelled to direct my learning and studies to furthering understanding the stories that bring learning and awareness of Indigenous knowledge, culture and health care in relation to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

Helping and giving back to the community is why I became a nurse and a Nurse Practitioner and this is why my studies are within the community and also devoted to improving nursing education towards Indigenous health. In this learning, health care providers and anyone interested may be better informed towards cultural safety and achieving desirable client centered health outcomes.  Already I have listened to incredible stories that speak to the significance of history in shaping the ways things are today.  I reiterate nursing has the power to make the world a better place but this all starts in your own community.  But I could not to do this enormous work without the help of the CNF TD Aboriginal Nursing Fund and for this I am extremely thankful!