As a community health nurse in the remote community of Ahousaht, Karyn Bernard has to draw on an extensive collection of skills. When the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council offered her the job five years ago, it was a role she had contemplated since before her nursing education began.
“I used to be the dispatcher at Tofino Air in the late 80s. I would arrange the flights for the NTC health nurse and thought one day when I am a nurse, I want to be that nurse!”
Bernard, who is a Registered Nurse, recently completed her Bachelor of Science (Nursing), the latest in a string of certifications that make her a very versatile healthcare professional in a community with limited facilities.
“I live in Tofino and commute back and forth daily,” Bernard said.
Her specialty is maternal/child health, dealing with pre-natal and post-natal clients and children up to six years of age.
“The other hat that I wear is Communicable Disease Control. We all have those two mandated functions. Mainly, it’s TB surveillance and Immunization.”
Bernard’s team immunizes all children in the community under six years of age with the childhood series of vaccines. They are administered at two, four, six, 12 and 18 months, followed by a booster at age five.
“Because Ahousaht has two schools, we also do a Grade 6 and Grade 9 immunization program. We do health education in the schools with the kids on request and liaise with the teaching staff regarding health resources and supports for school-age kids.
Bernard said not all NTC Community Health Nurses have a school practice. Ahousaht has a population of about 1,000 people, of whom about 500 are under the age of 25.
“It’s a very young population and I have a lot of young prenatal clients. It’s common that girls have their babies young, and then go on to finish school.”
Bernard noted that the family support for the young moms in the village is what makes these young families thrive. There is always an extra set of hands to help with the babies and mothers do not have to raise them on their own or in isolation like you would in town. The teachings and knowledge passed down from grandmothers and mothers to our young women supports me very much in practice.
“It's a very welcoming and friendly village. I felt that right away when I first arrived.”
Bernard was long familiar with the island community, having grown up in nearby Tofino. She started her schooling at Tofino Elementary and then graduated from Ucluelet Senior Secondary.
“I left at 19 and travelled to Victoria. I did a three-year RN program that was college/hospital-based, through Camosun College and Royal Jubilee Hospital.”
After graduation, Bernard practiced in Victoria for three years on a thoracic medicine floor, working with respiratory and cardiac patients.
In 1995-96, she did a specialty in obstetrics at the B.C. Institute of Technology, in the Advanced Practice Obstetrics Nursing Program, before moving back to Tofino, where she alternated between full-time and seasonal work at the local hospital for the next few years.
“I would travel over to Ahousaht and work in the clinic with Dr. [John] Armstrong on my days off, just for fun as the clinic nurse and receptionist.”
In the late 1990s, Bernard's partner's education and work took the couple on the road. First, it was several years in northeast B.C., where she worked on the Labour Delivery Unit at Dawson Creek District Hospital.
From 1998-99, Bernard worked in the Internal Medicine Unit at Prince George Regional Hospital, which has since been renamed University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, to reflect its status as a teaching hospital.
From there it was back to Victoria, where Bernard worked in the Emergency Department at Royal Jubilee and worked on her BSc Nursing by correspondence.
In 2001, she moved back to Tofino, where her son was born. Bernard subsequently took a six-year break from nursing to raise her son before returning to practice in 2008.
“I had to take a refresher course because I had been away for more than five years. I did it by distance education through Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Vancouver. In 2009, I was hired by the Tribal Council, as soon as I finished. They called me and offered me my dream job. It was meant to be and I welcomed it. It has been an awesome experience ever since.”
Bernard felt she wasn't quite ready to take on the challenge of public health because she hadn't yet completed her BSc degree, but the NTC recruiters convinced her to apply.
“They said, ‘We understand you have lots of experience working with First Nations families, we understand you have an obstetrical background, and we think that we'd like to interview you and feel confident that you would be a good fit.’”
For the past five years, Bernard has applied those skills and that experience, while at the same time immersing herself in the culture of the community. Ha-Shilth-Sa spoke to her at the wrap-up of a week-long training session in Port Alberni. The closing ceremony included traditional songs and dancing, which Bernard joined in without hesitation.
“My passion is aboriginal health nursing and culturally safe practice, which is key to working effectively with the families that I work in partnership with,” she said, adding, “and I now know how to dance!”
