Fort Smith nurse awarded for excellence
Julie Lys wins Distinguished Alumna Award from Athabasca University
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Friday, September 23, 2016
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Fort Smith's Julie Lys always knew she would return to the North when she became a nurse. Her commitment to her community is one of the reasons she was chosen to receive this year's Distinguished Alumna Award from Athabasca University (AU).
Fort Smith nurse Julie Lys is this year's winner of the Distinguished Alumna Award from Athabasca University. - photo courtesy of Leili Heidema
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"It's a great surprise," Lys said.
The award is presented to graduates who are "bringing honour to the university through outstanding contributions to his or her field or community and/or examplary service to AU," according to the university.
Lys, who received her award on Sept. 14 in Fort Smith, said using her nursing skills to help Fort Smith residents is the best part of her job.
"I find it really very valuable working in my home community," she said. "I've known people all my life. I think there is nobody more important to look after than the people that raise you."
Lys earned her nursing diploma in 1985 at what was then Grant MacEwan College, now Grant MacEwan University, in Edmonton, Alta.
She returned to Fort Smith in 1987 to help take care of her father, who had had a stroke.
In the mid 1990s, she and her family moved to Edmonton, Alta. where she attended the University of Alberta and earned her bachelor of science in nursing.
She returned to Fort Smith and began working on her master's degree online through Athabasca University, which she completed in 2007.
Lys is also the North of 60 director for the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, as well as a member of the Canadian Nurses Association's National Expert Commission.
She said having the opportunity to update and enhance her skill set is one of the reasons she chose nursing as a career. She is also a member of the Fort Smith District Education Authority.
"Continuing education and learning every day is really important to me," she said. "In nursing, you can do that."
Lys also recognized the importance of having indigenous health care workers in the North.
"When I grew up here in the North, there wasn't very many aboriginal nurses as role models, so I just felt it would be important to have aboriginal nurses here," she said.
Learning about traditional wellness and listening to elders is a vital part of delivering health care in northern communities, Lys also said.
"We learn a lot through formal education but we also learn a lot from who we are and living in our communities, connecting with our elders," she said.
Lys said she encourages indigenous young people to become nurses.
"I just find it a very rewarding career and if I can do it, anybody can do it," she said. "I really was just raised in a large family, I lived in the North all of my life and I'm just like any other kid who is here right now."
Lys said she wanted to thank Donna Clare, a former schoolmate and colleague, for nominating her for the award, as well as Athabasca University for acknowledging her work.
