Marcia Porter

Can you imagine spending 10 hours a day, five days a week, in a classroom and on the hospital floor with your spouse, and then going home in the evenings to care for your two young children in need of dinner, homework help, playtime, bath and snuggle time?

And of course all this while you still had a ton of studying to do.

That’s been the sort of schedule new bachelor of nursing (BN) graduates Paul Bulai and Carmen Antoce have kept over the past two-years as fast-track BN students in Memorial University’s School of Nursing.

“It was hard, but it was good,” said Mr. Bulai, who has accepted a position In St. John’s in Community Health. His wife Carmen will work in Cardiology in the Health Sciences Centre.

“Even when we worked 10 hours together we still had time for a half hour here and there, random moments that you would not expect,” he said.

"....we are definitely happier here. We were told that St. John’s is a family place for kids and there are many opportunities and you will find good people here. " Paul Bulai

The couple arrived in St. John’s from Budapest four years ago, persuaded by Romanian friends in the city that they could have a good life here.

“They convinced us this is a good place and said they are very happy and we wanted to give it a try,” said Mr. Bulai, who was a physiotherapist in Budapest with a master’s in rehabilitative therapy before moving to St. John’s.

“It was definitely a good move. We were okay in Romania but we are definitely happier here. We were told that St. John’s is a family place for kids and there are many opportunities and you will find good people here. That was always stressed.”

Before leaving Budapest for St. John’s, Ms. Antoce had completed her degree in Engineering and was pursuing a career in that field. But she wasn’t disappointed to leave it all behind.

She’d been thinking about Nursing on and off since childhood, and especially after giving birth to her children.

“I realized I should have been a nurse by then, and I continued thinking this way,” she said. “I really wanted to have a moment in my life when I could do nursing.”

Moving to St. John’s provided just that moment; Ms. Antoce applied to School of Nursing.

"I believe he (Paul) secretly wanted to take a break from working in massage therapy and join me in nursing, and be together for like 10 hours a day and have some fun with that." Carmen Antoce

And so did her husband.

“I believe he (Paul) secretly wanted to take a break from working in massage therapy and join me in nursing, and be together for like 10 hours a day and have some fun with that,” she laughs. “He never knew what he was getting in to.”

“I’ve been practicing in Canada as a registered massage therapist and nursing felt really close to that,” said Mr. Bulai. “It helped me connect with the patients I really enjoyed working with.”

Juggling family life and the intense two-year fast-track nursing program was a challenge. The couple became the ultimate tag team, working out a schedule so they could switch from parenting to studying, then enjoy a special family night on Fridays.

“It made us stronger we had support from each other,” said Ms. Antoce. “We would get childish and competitive at times and then we would realize if one of us is struggling, than both of us are struggling.”

The two credit a friendly, supportive class and faculty with helping them through the rough times.

“Every one of our peers and instructors was encouraging,” said Ms. Antoce. ”Our class was a great group and supportive. We did get the questions, like ‘How do you do this? Why do you do this?"

The past two years have not only made the couple stronger – it’s helped them grow as medical professionals. They’ve seen it in their classmates, as they spent an increasing amount of time in clinical settings.

When the two meet their professors and instructors in the school, they are filled with gratitude and admiration.

“When I meet them I feel like hugging them,” said Mr. Bulai. “They really cared about us and with that support it makes you feel that they want you to succeed.”

 

 

 

 

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