Beverly and John Carl Award

My journey to become a nurse started seven years ago. I was completing my Bachelors of Science from Simon Fraser University and was seeking a career that would provide me the opportunity to create positive change on people’s state of health. Nursing always resonated with me; my mom is a nurse so I was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn firsthand about the profession.

I knew that I wanted to become a nurse practitioner before entering nursing school. It is a position that bridges the empathy, holism and compassion of a nurse with the ability to provide autonomous comprehensive care. After completing my studies at SFU, I attended the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, graduated with my Bachelors of Nursing, and started working in emergency.

My passion in nursing is in rural healthcare. I have been going to my parent’s cabin in the Cariboo (in the BC Interior) since the age of 7. My love of the outdoors and rural communities developed through the years I spent there, and this merged with my goals in nursing. After working in emergency for two years, I was accepted into the UBC Nurse Practitioner program.

As I now enter my second and final year of the program, my goal upon completion is to relocate and work in the BC Interior. The current shortage of primary care providers in BC creates many barriers for British Columbians; this gap is amplified in rural BC. As an NP, my vision is to help improve primary care access to rural underserviced communities.