CNF Award

Boozhoo, aniin!  I am a fourth year Métis nursing student from Kamloops, British Columbia.   Though I already hold my BA in English, my journey into healthcare began early in my life as I supported my indigenous grandfather in our home as he struggled with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and later on, dementia.  I became a nurse’s aide in 2011, working in this field until 2014 when I was accepted into the nursing program at Thompson Rivers University.

Though my initial goal in nursing was to pursue psychiatry, during my time as a nurse’s aide, I gained experience around palliative and end of life care, and this led to my desire to pursue a career within both hospice and psychiatric nursing. I have been lucky enough to have been employed at a psychiatric facility during the summer of 2017 and the amount of learning I have done has been astounding.   Being able to support patients when they are at some of the darkest times of their lives has shown me that my true calling in this life is to be a nurse.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”.  – Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban