Education/training

Career Moves - graduate success stories

Premier's Award winner has dream job

She had the passion, she had the drive, and with the help of Algonquin College, Kerry Smith gained the knowledge and skills to pursue her dream job.

SHARON ASCHAIEK
[ 2007-05-23 ]

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Kerry Smith says her solid education at Algonquin College gave her the confidence to go after what she wanted. (Algonquin College)

In 1980, with years of hospital candy striping under belt, the Ottawa native enrolled in the college's one-year Nursing Assistant certificate program. She enjoyed the program's broad-based curriculum and particularly, the chance to learn about anatomy and physiology. She quickly found herself thriving academically like never before.

"I was an average student in high school, but when I began training for nursing, everything changed -- I was really in my element," recalls Smith, 45. "I got good overall training in every area."

Now a two-year diploma program called Practical Nursing, the program offers classroom, laboratory, online and independent study, as well as off-site health-care placements, to provides students with the basic knowledge, skills and attitudes required to write the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Exam in Ontario and enter the profession.

The program uses hands-on training techniques to teach how to properly assess, plan, implement and evaluate nursing care for all age groups, with particular focus on communicating in a caring and therapeutic manner. Students gain practical experience in a variety of health-care settings, including long-term care, medical surgical, maternal child, mental health and community.


For Smith, as valuable as the technical training was the ongoing confidence-building support she received from her instructors.

"One teacher in particular always encouraged me to follow my dreams and pursue my goals," she says.

Upon graduating in 1981, it didn't take very long for Smith to put her nursing training to use. She started her nursing career at Ottawa Civic Hospital (now called The Ottawa Hospital) as a part-time ward clerk, and continued working there while taking on other part-time nursing jobs in rehab and home care.

In 1993, she seized the opportunity to as a full-time nurse at The Ottawa Hospital's surgical out-patient clinic in an area she'd always been fascinated by: ophthalmology.

During that time, she ran a cornea retrieval program on a voluntary basis for three years before securing funding for what is now called the Corneal Donation Program for the new City of Ottawa, the most successful retrieval program in Canada.

Today, in addition to working as a registered practical nurse in ophthalmology at the Ottawa Hospital, Smith is the regional co-ordinator for the Ontario division of the Eye Bank of Canada, a role that involves documenting cornea transplants in the province. She also teaches in Algonquin's Practical Nursing program and regularly presents on ophthalmology trends to the medical community.

"I've always enjoyed the eye and how it works, and there are so many different areas within ophthalmology. Also, new treatment procedures are coming out all the time," she says. "When you see a patient who's been in an accident and has lost their sight and can't see you, and then after a procedure they can see you, it's a really rewarding feeling."

EXCELLENCE IN HEALTH SCIENCES


Recently, Smith's commitment to her field and remarkable accomplishments were acknowledged with an Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in Health Sciences. The foundational education and constant support she received at Algonquin, she says, laid the groundwork for where she is today.

"I think my Algonquin training made a big difference. I went in with a positive attitude and enjoyed it," she says. "The teachers were amazing and I got a solid education that gave me the confidence to go after what I wanted."



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