“I love what I have learned from the people in these communities.”

Anna Russell (BSN ’11) has turned a self-described ‘restlessness’ into an asset in building a very full resume in the few years since her graduation from UBC. She has worked at an outreach clinic in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, the Dr. Peter Centre, the acute spine unit at Vancouver General Hospital, and now in rural BC communities with the First Nations Health Authority.

Russell’s final preceptorship during her BSN was at a clinic run by Vancouver Native Health in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. During this experience Russell says she was able to consolidate a lot of the concepts from her BSN such as the social determinants of health, harm reduction and compassionate care.
“It was also my introduction to working with aboriginal patients in an environment that cared about aboriginal health and valued their culturally specific health needs.”

After graduation Russell continued to work at Vancouver Native Health and also looked for work in both acute and community areas. She was offered a position at the Dr. Peter Centre Day Health Program. She describes the Dr. Peter Centre as a “wonderful, multi-disciplinary centre for HIV positive individuals to eat, socialize, and be connected to health care and other resources.”

Russell then took the suggestion of a friend and fellow UBC Nursing graduate Ben Fischer (BSc ’09, BSN ‘11) and applied for a job at the acute spine unit at Vancouver General Hospital. Not one to be staying still for too long, she also found opportunities to work in orthopedics and trauma.

She heard about remote nursing from a colleague. A few months later she was on a flight to Prince George to meet with the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, and then off to Aurora College in Yellowknife to take their Introduction to Advanced Assessment. “This was the best course I have ever taken in my life. It was taught by two Nurse Practitioners who had 40 plus years’ of nursing experience each, and with tons of hands-on practice. It was only six weeks but I can’t believe how much I learned! I highly recommend this course to everyone!”

Since then Russell has been working in remote communities around BC. She describes her current work in remote practice as a “rewarding adventure”, albeit a path that she didn’t ever consider in nursing school.

“It’s an interesting mix between primary care, pediatrics, prenatal care, emergency, community and even public health. Sometimes I will even be the veterinarian or the physiotherapist. Above all I love what I have learned from the people in these communities and about aboriginal health. In October 2013 Health Canada transferred the care of these communities to the FNHA (First Nation’s Health Authority). This was a huge step in aboriginal health and I am excited to see what the future of First Nation’s health care holds.”