Coolers, Hovercrafts, and 16-Hour Shifts: Travel Nursing in Canada’s North

By: Melody Gorospe, Carecor Marketing Coordinator

This National Nursing Week, we’re featuring Kim Smith-Desrosiers, a Registered Nurse and travel nurse with Bayshore Northern Staffing.

 

Kim grew up in a small town in Quebec, spending weekends at a cottage on a salmon fishing river, collecting tadpoles, caring for animals, and exploring the outdoors.

 

As a child, she had frequent ER visits from a health condition, but instead of finding hospitals scary, she found them comforting. When her dad was hospitalized for months after a serious accident, she watched nurses help him heal and knew one day she wanted to do the same.

 

After studying psychology, she redirected toward nursing, and one elective course on Aboriginal Issues in Nursing opened her eyes to the potential health disparities and unique challenges that Indigenous and remote communities may face across Canada.

 

Kim has been working in the North for many years. She’s traveled to communities by plane, truck, boat, barge, and even a hovercraft! She says the biggest difference between nursing in the North and in the city isn’t just the resources, though those differences are real and significant. There are no operating rooms, no CT scanners, and doctors are only accessible a few days a week.

 

The other difference, the one Kim talks about with the most warmth, is connection.

“You’re accepted immediately as a community member. You go to the grocery store and people are happy to see you. You get to see firsthand the progression of someone you treated, a kid you saw as a baby grow up, or someone who comes back to say thank you.”

 

Kim recalls an autumn evening last year when the nursing team had been on their feet for 14 to 16 hours straight, only to run home to grab granola bars between patients. At 10 p.m., a knock on the door brought a welcome surprise. Individually packed meals was gifted to every nurse on shift, thoughtfully arranged by a community councillor whose relative had been in their care.

 

“We really felt seen,” Kim said.

 

She emphasized how everyone in the community looks out for each other. She witnessed an entire community pause during a local election because a member had gone missing on a snowmobile. After an urgent search, the person was found safe, and only then did community business resume.

 

“They put everything on pause to take care of their people before electing for their people. That was really something,” she said.

 

For nurses considering the leap into travel nursing, Kim says you have to be comfortable not knowing everything and be willing to ask for help. She stresses that there are no silly questions in the North, asking a colleague or provider can help prevent any serious mistakes.

 

This Nursing Week, Kim will continue to do what she always does best, show up, care deeply, and send her nurse friends a text that says, “Hang in there, you’re a superstar.” Teamwork is the foundation of everything in the North. It is what makes the difference on the hardest days.

 

“I became a nurse because it gives me the opportunity to always learn and to pivot, while always giving me the opportunity to help others along the way.”

 

Happy National Nursing Week to Kim and every nurse working far from home to serve the communities that need them.