This Spring, the Inpatient Unit welcomed two new clinical practicum students to the team. Tashi (right), a Counselling student completing her Master’s degree at the University of Victoria, and Laura (below), completing her Practical Nursing diploma at Camosun College, have brought much light and support to the team over the past weeks.
We asked Tashi about the best part of her placement at Victoria Hospice. “Mostly the people who work here,” she said. “Everyone who models the ‘hospice way of being’, especially Beth, my supervisor.” For the first month of her practicum, Tashi shadowed Beth 100% of the time, and says she quickly learned by example how to enter each room, and every conversation, with compassion, openness and ease. “Beth truly is a rock star in that respect,” she says.
As Laura nears the completion of her 20-month Practical Nursing program, she has had an opportunity to reflect on what work she’d like to pursue as a new nurse. “I spent many years as a Heath Care Assistant in long term care, community care and in acute settings at Victoria General Hospital. Hospice is unlike any place I’ve worked at before,” she says. “The families are so welcomed, never seen as a nuisance or in the way. They can relax and visit with their loved ones in a peaceful and quiet setting and make every moment count.”