Denise Nicholson

My passion for wound care started early in my over 20-year nursing career when I worked on a surgical unit in Fredericton, NB. I also remember my first ostomy patient. He was a quadriplegic, and I was able to see how greatly his ostomy improved his quality of life. Then military life took my family and I to ON where I began working for an agency with an ET. I learned about the role and its value and my interest in ostomy and wound care further grew. Little did I know that soon after I would have someone dear to me need an ostomy. I was able to see how it saved and improved their quality of life. We were then posted to NS and that is where I met Gail Creelman. Seeing firsthand her passion for the role and how she cared for my loved one, I realized that I needed to become an ET. I was fortunate to learn from Gail and Karla Lohnes and colleagues in Halifax and I graduated from the program in 2016. My ET career began. Our final posting brought us back to NB, and I was so lucky to obtain an NSWOC position at the Moncton hospital. Since then, my passion for anything related to wounds, ostomy and now continence has only grown. I obtained my CNA certification in 2020, I attend Ostomy Moncton support group meetings and I am a four-time Ostomy Canada Ostomy Youth Camp volunteer. If I can create change in NB and the rest of Canada before my NSWOC career is done, it is to aid in the creation of provincial ostomy, catheter and additional essential medical supply programs as well as to assist with the augmentation of the NSWOC role in hospital, community and long-term care sectors.