Category: PE 9

Community connection

I choose a family friend who is a nurse for my interview because I might want to become a nurse as a possible career. Her name is Linda Blanchette and she is 65 years old and is very passionate about her job and works hard.

Connect –

Why are you passionate about your job?

She is passionate about nursing because her job is challenging, diverse, interesting and has an element of excitement and drama, she never may know what might happen next. But mostly, she is passionate about her job because she feels she makes a different in her patients lives, however big or small that may be.

 

What obstacles have you faced to get where you are today

The obstacles she had faced are…

1. The fear of the unknown
2. She was a stay at home mom
3.   She had feelings of doubt – For example, knowing she was 30 years old, could she successfully go back to school again.
4. Education – she was one course short for her high school diploma, so she went back to school and competed grade 12 biology In order to meet the requirements for a high school diploma.
5. Children, she had two children and she had to provide care for them while she was in the nursing program.
6. Money was tight, so she had to obtain a loan to pay for the nursing program.

 

What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

The advice that she would give to anybody considering a career in nursing, is to ask yourself, do you really have a genuine interest in nursing? She would advise to research and familiarize with the nurses role. Talk to nurses in order to have a better understanding in what they do, volunteer in a hospital or community setting in order to see nurses In action. Furthermore, take all non nursing courses such as math, English and biology while waiting to enter the nursing program, thereby allowing yourself to focus on the actual nursing program.

Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?

She is open to further contact and can contact her through me.

 

What was the hardest thing about your job that you had to do?

The hardest thing about nursing is working short staffed and taking on additional patients, One of the hardest and most frustrating aspects of nursing, is to not be able to provide the unhurried compassionate care people deserve because, management failed to provide the number of nurses required for the workload. She finds It difficult to look a patient or their family member in the eye and say ”sorry I didn’t have time to sit with you”.

Where did you work and how long?

She worked at Surrey memorial hospital in various departments for 20 years then she worked at Eagle ridge hospital on the high acuity unit for 6 years.

 

Why is your job important to you?

Her job is important because it gives her financial independence, self satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment.