THUNDER BAY - It was a long two years with late nights, a heavy workload, and the stress of learning how to help others as a healthcare professional, but the supports offered by fellow students and staff helped 11 new practical nurses receive their pins and become the first graduating class in a new practical nursing program.
“It’s a big relief because it’s two years straight,” said graduating nurse Martine Kanakakeesic. “I’m happy to be graduating with these girls. The hours are long but it was amazing. There were some hard times and frustration because we all have families. So it was hard being away from our kids, but it was worth it in the end.”
The Oshki-Wenjack Education Institute held a pinning ceremony for the first graduating class of registered practical nurses on Wednesday.
The 11 graduates are the first to complete the newly offered program at the Education Institute and Kara Morriseau, health disciplines program coordinator with Oshki-Wenjack, said staff could not be more proud of these 11 women.
“It is a bit of milestone for us as well,” she said. “Oshki was created to service NAN and the northern communities in post-secondary education. Now we are welcoming 11 brand new practical nurses, so this changes the health dynamic possibilities for the north. We are able to fill our communities with people from these communities to work in a capacity to care for people in those communities.”
Pinning ceremonies have been taking place in the nursing profession since the First World War and the new nurses also took the Nursing Nightingale Pledge.
According to Morriseau, many of the nurses will return to their home communities to practice and care for the people there, while some will remain in Thunder Bay to pursue careers in the healthcare field.
“We have a high success rate,” she said. “We only lost one student along the way, but we had two students who transferred from the College. Numbers wise this is a typical class size for us, we do have 11 students. We do have 11 students and we keep our classes sizes small so the students can remain kind of like a family setting like they would experience in their communities.”
This family-like experience and support is what sets the Oshki-Wenjack program apart, Kanakakeesic said, and it helped her achieve a life-long goal of entering the nursing profession.
“I wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl. I finally came back to Oshki because the program was really good. I tried before,” she said. “The way their program is set up it gives us time to be with our family and there is lots of support. Because the class is small and we are the first RPNs, so I had a good time there.”
Kanakakeesic worked in the surgical unit at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre during the program and she is hoping to continue her career in Thunder Bay to gain more experience.
Fellow student, Shannon Mamakwa, said she is hoping to return to her home community of Pikangikum as a nurse to help the people in her community.
“It’s something I always wanted to do so I can help and contribute to my community,” she said.
Mamakwa added that Oshki-Wenjack allowed her to continue her education while still living at home and being able to spend time with her family and work, making it easier to achieve her goal.
And now that she was able to walk across the stage with her fellow graduates and receive her pin, Mamakwa can look back at just how challenging and amazing the experience was.
“It feels surreal. It was very hard and intense for all of us. But we kept encouraging each other and pushed each other and supported each other,” she said. “It was a humbling experience. What I experienced was acceptance and love from the staff at Oshki and my fellow peers.”
Oshki-Wenjack is accepting applications for the next nursing program, which begins in January 2020. For more information, visit the Oshki-Wenjack website.
