Sharon Nield Memorial Award

I am so grateful for the confidence that the Canadian Nurses Foundation has placed in me by awarding me the CNF Sharon Nield Memorial Award.  I am taking an unconventional route to becoming a degree prepared RN by way of bridging from a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN).  The advantage I have had has come in the practice experience I have already gained.  As soon as I started nursing practice, I knew I loved it.  I truly believe that nursing is not a job; it is a way to give back to the community.

Winning an award from the Canadian Nurses Foundation will help me immensely as I work to complete the last year of my degree and turn my sights to the future.  I have a dream of becoming a prominent nursing researcher, focusing on complex chronic disease.  I am interested in understanding how this ever-growing phenomenon affects the lives of those who live with it.  I am also interested in understanding what can and should be done to make our healthcare system more amenable to those living with complex chronic disease, as it is they who do and will need it the most.

Just as Sharon Nield contributed to nursing policy advances, I hope to also contribute to nursing and health policy through valuable and relevant nursing research.