FORT SMITH - Since becoming a nurse 20 years ago, Julie Lys of Fort Smith has never stopped learning about her chosen profession.

Now, Lys is working towards a master's degree as a nurse practitioner from the Internet-based Athabasca University.

Fort Smith nurse Julie Lys is studying to become a nurse practitioner. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"When I'm done, I'm hoping to be a nurse practitioner in Fort Smith," she said, adding she would like to help midwives with prenatal care and deliveries, among other duties.

While on education leave as a full-time student, she learns theory online and practises clinical skills with Fort Smith doctors.

She began her studies in January 2005 and will finish in August of this year.

Lys, who was born and raised in Fort Smith, has been working as a nurse in the community since 1987. She earned a diploma in nursing in 1985 from Edmonton's Grant MacEwan College and a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Alberta in 2000.

She said she loves being a nurse. "It's very interesting. There's never a dull moment."

A nurse practitioner has a broader scope of practice and more responsibility than a registered nurse.

A nurse practitioner can write prescriptions, give diagnoses, order laboratory tests and make referrals to specialists.

They can also help deal with the NWT's doctor shortage, said Lys, who will be the second nurse practitioner in Fort Smith.

However, she has no intention of becoming a doctor herself. She said it would take seven years in medical school. "I'd have to start all over again to go into medicine."

Aside from working in healthcare, Lys is busy in many other ways.

She is NWT director with the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, a board member of the Fort Smith Metis Council and chairperson of the Fort Smith District Education Authority.

"I guess I'm just used to doing a lot of different things," said the married mother of two daughters, one 24 years old and the other 16.

Last month, Lys won the Dr. Pierre Lessard Education Award for 2006.

The award, a $2,000 bursary initiated in 1991, is named after a now-retired obstetrician/gynecologist who served at Stanton Territorial Hospital for many years.

It is presented to healthcare professionals in the NWT who are pursuing further education in their field.

"It's a real honour to get the bursary," Lys said, noting she worked with Lessard when he was a visiting obstetrician in Fort Smith.