Larry Thompson, Tuktoyaktuk nurse, wins national award

When Larry Thompson began his career as an administrator for the performing arts — working with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto -— he could never have guessed he would end up as a nurse in one of the N.W.T.'s most remote communities.

"I just felt like I needed a change and this just declared itself to me," he says. "I've never looked back. It's been really one of the greatest jobs I've ever hoped to have."

Last week, Thompson was one of three nurses awarded the Award of Excellence in Nursing by Health Canada. The award recognizes the "dedication, initiative and high standard of excellence" of registered nurses working in Inuit and First Nations communities.

Thompson's second career began in Attawapiskat, Ont., where he spent five years laying the foundation for a career that would take him to 20 other communities across Canada.

"I can only explain it by saying that I just fell in love with the dynamism of the kind of nursing that you get to do."

'Cradle-to-grave nursing'

For a remote northern nurse, that can mean "cradle-to-grave" nursing that covers everything from family planning and prenatal care to well-baby, well-men and well-women clinics.

"In the walk-in clinics in the morning, we're just like any appointment you might make with your doctor," he says. "Along with all of that knowledge comes a little bit more responsibility."

Sometimes, the job of a nurse is to do the best they can with whatever they have available, he says, "and those can be some of your greatest moments."

That can include heart attacks, house fires, or any time someone is delivered to the health centre by truck, car or snowmobile in an emergency.

Then there are the quieter moments.

'Tiny little things... heroic in their reward'

A few weeks ago, Thompson met with a young mother who'd recently been left by her partner. "She was planning to kill herself," he says.

Thompson says it was an opportunity to do "probably the best thing that nurses do": be present with her.

"I was able to reach in," he says. "She had a tiny little bit of light on."

Thompson made a pact with the woman so that she wouldn't go home and end her life. He also reached out to others to create a safety net for her.

It was a small part of his day, he says, that had a massive impact on a family and a community.

"Tiny little things that are not heroic in any way, but they're heroic in the reward for us."

That's the kind of care Thompson hopes to keep offering.  

"People rely on us a lot in these communities and we try to do our best to give them the best kind of care that we have," he says. "I have a passion for the work of it."