My Background
Nursing is the passion of my heart, which was born within me as a small child growing up in a third-world country. As a little girl, I saw firsthand the horrors of violence, misogyny, disease and malnourishment.
As I witnessed nurses providing compassionate presence and competent health care to the community, they became my heroines! As a 6-year-old, I committed my life to becoming “a super nurse,” with the dream of bringing hope and healing to marginalized and traumatized populations.
I have been pursuing professional excellence and fulfilling my childhood nursing dream against a backdrop of being a single mother. After finding refuge with my two sons in Calgary’s Sheriff King Home Crisis Shelter in 2006, life has been a monumental effort to nourish resilience and overcome adversity. I lived as a low-income, single mom; worked passionately to finish my high school; completed my undergraduate nursing degree; and worked as an acute care nurse on the front lines.
I have needed to heal and overcome severe, early childhood trauma and have poured my energy into supporting my two sons break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Today my two boys, now young men, are well-rounded, functioning adults who have entered further education to pursue their dreams. Witnessing their healing and heath is by far my greatest nursing accomplishment!
Education and Experience
I received my Bachelor of Nursing Degree with Distinction from the University of Calgary in 2019. I graduated with a GPA of 3.83/4.00.
During my undergraduate degree, I developed the capacity to be organized and diligent, excelling in my academic studies, while balancing my responsibilities as a single mom to my sons; this experience will set me up for success in navigating the expectations within Athabasca University’s MN-NP program. I continue to have a strong support network within the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. I also have a supportive community of family and friends. I am a self-motivated, disciplined and a dedicated independent learner, who has demonstrated excellence in my ability to work within a team and find the resources I need to succeed.
I have five years of medical-surgical acute care experience and one year experience working as charge nurse on a long-term care unit. I bring to the MN-NP program a strong foundation in knowledge and skills, including the following: performing full-systems assessments and practical clinical skills, well-developed critical thinking, precise documentation, strong leadership and coaching capability within the roles of charge nurse and preceptor. I have demonstrated outstanding interpersonal skills to build therapeutic relationships with patients and their families. In March 2020, the surgical unit I worked on at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary was rapidly converted to deliver COVID-19-specific care. As a member of this dynamic interdisciplinary team, I wholeheartedly built collaborative relationships with my colleagues to deliver exceptional medical care.