Marcia Porter

New nursing graduate Holly Burford of St. John's has always wanted experience living and working in rural Newfoundland.

So she's packing up her degree, and her belongings, and moving to Grand Bank on the Burin Peninsula where she already has a place to live.

"What I'm looking forward to is building and developing connections with members of the community."

Ms. Burford has a full-time permanent position waiting for her and will divide her time between emergency at the Grand Bank Health Centre and the community's long-term care facility.

"What I'm looking forward to is building and developing connections with members of the community, and applying the knowledge and skills I have learned over the past few years. I think this will be a very interesting and diverse experience," she said.

"I like the assessment skills that nurses get to use in the ER (Emergency), and it's fast-paced. I'm also interested in learning about the role of the registered nurse in long-term care."

And it's a plus that Grand Bank isn't too far from St. John's where her family live in St. John's.

Like many of her classmates, Ms. Burford can hardly believe four years in her bachelor of nursing program have come and gone so quickly.

She vividly remembers her first clinical placement in long-term care at the Miller Centre in St. John's, where students were introduced to patients undergoing rehabilitation from stroke and other conditions.

"I remember it like it was yesterday. We really got to get to know the patients and develop a connection with them for the three weeks we were there," she said.

Imagine the strong connections Ms. Burford and her classmates have built over the past few years; connections that have led too many long-lasting friendships. It's an important feature of school life that not only gets you through the bad times and the good; working together establishes and reinforces the value of teamwork in a supportive environment.

In fact her classmate Kathleen White of St. John's is also beginning her nursing career in Grand Bank, working in emergency and long-term care.

"I really like how the school is like a family and you really get to know your professors and the staff, and get to be really close with your classmates." Holly Burford

"I really like how the school is like a family and you really get to know your professors and the staff," she said. "And you really get to be close with your classmates. You make some really good friends and in a diverse program."

]Ms. Burford appreciated that diversity, and from the beginning of first year searched out a variety of new learning experiences. She began volunteering with the Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, and continues that involvement.

"I've always been interested in autism, but didn't know much about it," she said. "I didn't know that it was a spectrum disorder, and so diverse, with every person having different needs. I worked for a couple of summers as a camp counselor, designing activities and adapting to the needs of the child I was working with."

Volunteering at the "amazing" autism centre has been personally and professionally enriching, she says, and expects the experience will serve her well during her nursing career.