Nursing Week runs May 6-12 this year and is a time to recognize the incredible accomplishments and contributions that nurses bring to health-care teams and the delivery of services across the province.

Working in a role that involved caring for others was always what Danita Lechelt pictured when she thought about her future career. Growing up, Lechelt was inspired both by watching her mother (also a nurse) and from the experience of having someone close to her, a cousin, receiving health care throughout her childhood.

“Ever since I was in elementary school, I have known without a doubt that this was the career I wanted to pursue,” said Lechelt, a Clinical Resource Nurse at St. Anthony’s General Hospital in the northern community of The Pas. “It felt very natural for me to move into a role where I’m able to take care of others and see people not just as patients but as people, with families who love them.”

Lechelt worked in a number of locations across Manitoba, including Dauphin and Winnipeg, before finding the perfect fit for her career – and her family – in The Pas.

“My husband and I moved here initially with the intention of staying for two years,” said Lechelt. “That was 14 years ago. We are still here in large part because I love my job.”

“We have a pretty great little nursing family here. We call it the tiniest work family because we are a small group, but we know that our team will grow again. Being in a smaller setting gives you that opportunity to develop more personal relationships with the other people in your unit and in the facility in general. I know pretty much everybody by their first name,” she added.

In her role, Lechelt supports education and training at the hospital, passing forward her knowledge and approach to patient-centered care on to the next generation of northern nurses.

“Trust is a big part of healthcare, especially in northern Manitoba. Building those relationships with patients so that you really get to know them is important in our community,” said Lechelt. “As nurses, we advocate for our patients, we want them to be healthy and that extends beyond the care in the hospital to things in the community.”

“We live here, so making sure people in our community are safe and healthy matters to all of us, so whether that’s advocating for a crosswalk or to address barriers, those are the things we can do that improve a community’s health as a whole.”

With the experience of working through the pandemic behind her, Lechelt remains very positive and optimistic about the future of nursing.

“Even with the pandemic and everything that the health system has been through, I would absolutely choose nursing again,” she said. “I love being a nurse and even if I knew what was coming 17 years ago, it wouldn’t change my mind.”