A career in nursing in the Yukon can bring you different places. The territory has three hospitals, 11 community health centres and four facilities which offer continuing care.
But that's not all.
The Government of Yukon also offers a home care program to helps Elders and seniors stay longer in their own homes with home care nurses in Dawson City, Watson Lake, Haines Junction and Whitehorse.
Today we meet Sophia who is a registered nurse.
Her work involves house calls.
In recent years her career has also progressed as she's grown into a leadership role within home care.
Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role?
My name is Sophia and I'm a home care registered nurse and home support worker supervisor. I work on the regional home care team. I graduated from the University of Alberta in 2012 and have been working in home care ever since! I've been in the Yukon since 2021.
What do you do in a typical day?
My day starts in the office. I check emails and get organized for the day. Part of the day is spent with clients, out in the community doing interventions or assessments. And part of the day is in the office doing documentation, referrals and following up with community partners and doctors.
Each day is different! I might be admitting someone new to the program who is coming home from hospital and doing an assessment to see what services they are eligible for. This involves care planning with the client to identify their goals and allows home care to fill in gaps while still allowing the client as much independence as they need or want. I might be following up with a wound that is healing but doesn’t require someone to be in hospital. Or I might be spending time with a palliative client who wants to remain at home as long as possible.
Home Care nurses have a wide range of skills: we are quite specialized in wound care and receive a lot of extra training, we can take blood if someone isn’t able to get to the lab and we can do a lot of things that nurses do in the hospital if the person is well enough to be in their home like giving medications, managing catheters and ostomies.
In my role I also supervise home support workers who are out providing the services like personal care, meal prep or respite so I am also checking in with staff throughout the day.
What do you like about this role?
I love that every day is different. I am a guest in the client’s home which is a really special thing. When somebody comes into the hospital, they're sort of on your turf, right? But here we're a guest in their home so we get to see what makes a person a person. What makes them smile and thrive but also what challenges they experience at home.
It’s sort of like putting a puzzle together every day. We help find the right group of supports to keep a client at home if that is where they want to be.
How far do you travel?
It depends on the community, but you could travel 100 kilometers to visit a client in in all sorts of weather conditions.
We have an Inreach device (satellite communication tool) and take a lot of precautions and procedures as we are often travelling alone. If someone needs care at home that is essential, we'll be headed there.
What advice might you have for somebody who's considering working at home care?
Home care is a challenging but rewarding role.
You definitely need to be a people person and have strong communication skills. Building relationships is really important. There is so much more trust gained when you take the extra ten minutes to sit with someone and really get to know them.
There's a lot of flexibility and autonomy in your work day and plenty of time to adventure in the Yukon after your shift is done!