TD Aboriginal Nursing Fund Award – Baccalaureate

My name is Montana Massicotte; I am a proud Indigenous woman and part of the bear clan.  In the winter of 2015 I was enrolled in the Pre-Health Science program at Algonquin College.  I had applied to a few different programs including respiratory therapist, x-ray technician, ultrasound, and nursing for the following year.  I was at this fork in the road of figuring out which path I wanted to take that would impact my future.  During this time my grandmother had fallen extremely ill and was in the ICU in a coma for a week.  Throughout the numerous hours spent in the hospital by my grandma’s bedside awaiting her to wake up, our family was cared for by multiple nurses.  We started to grow closer with a few nurses; seeing their compassion, empathy, and dedication I grew much admiration for them.  One of the nurses really left an impression on my whole family, she even cried for joy as my grandma made a full recovery.

Seeing how these people had such a huge impact and built a relationship with not only the patient, but her family I knew this was the occupation for me.  As my Grandma recovered and I returned back to my studies, two weeks after I received my acceptance letter for the nursing program close to home.  It was fate, I accepted the offer and was determined to make a difference and care for the patients and their families like those nurses cared for us.