David Hill Supporting Nursing Excellence Award

I’ve worked in healthcare for 20 years, practicing as a naturopathic doctor in the states before immigrating to Canada. I’m also a mom of two teenagers. I’m passionate about patient care and empowering people to live a healthier life. During COVID I decided to change careers. I was inspired by the varied and interesting careers of two close friends of mine who are nurses. In their careers they worked on the medical floor, maternity floor, at Options for Sexual health and were both instructors at Selkirk College. In that role, one of them set up a program to bring Selkirk nursing students to a small village in Guatemala. That program was incredibly popular and beneficial to both nursing students and the Guatamalans. I met those two nurses through my volunteer work since we were all founding members of Doctors and Nurses for Planetary Health in Nelson BC. https://planetaryhealthkb.ca In my volunteer work, mostly focused on climate change, I’ve learned that the healthcare sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and there is much to do to improve it that will ultimately help our patients and our planet. Therefore, I feel with nursing I can combine my volunteer work and paid work. I’m confident that I’ll find interesting and inspiring work as a nurse and continue to work together with other doctors and nurses to help make our healthcare system greener. I’m about to enter my third year of school and I know I’ve made the right choice!