THE BEST WAY TO FIND YOURSELF IS TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.
- MAHATMA GANDHI -
WELCOME
Welcome to my e-Portfolio!
My name is Shabin Mere (pronounced Shabeen)
I live, work, and play in the traditional ancestral, and unceded homelands territories of the Coast Salish and Nlaka'pamux Nations, and home to six Metis Chartered Communities - in the city of Surrey, British Columbia.
My Nursing background has predominantly centered in Home and Community Care. I am currently a Graduate student attending the Masters of Health Studies at the Athabasca University in Calgary, Alberta.
The information I am sharing in this portfolio are all aspects of my experiences connected to my Nursing profession since the start of my career in 1995. Here you will find knowledge sharing on my learnings from my Athabasca University, information on our Health Care System, Resources for Community Services, and the Nursing professional Association links. I hope you enjoy my blogs.
In the field of nursing, I graduated initially with a diploma in 1995. Then after 17 years since getting married and raising a family, I went on to pursue further education. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Nursing through online learning with University of Victoria, and now continuing further to complete my Masters level education. I have over 28 years of experience in various areas of Nursing Practice, with a focus on both clinical and administrative nursing roles. For 20 of those years, I built my expertise in leadership from various roles, plus five years of frontline experience both in Acute and Community settings.
I am a self-motivated professional who takes responsibility for my own performance, and I aim to model integrity, resilience, and confidence. I am passionate about building an engaging environment that supports and challenges others to achieve their goals.
I am married, with two older children – 1 son 21 years old, and 1 daughter 17 years old. I have an elderly father and younger brother with Down syndrome and I am constantly able to apply my health navigation skills in helping them with their health care needs. I lost my mother at age 77 to advanced Myelodysplastic Anemia and another younger brother at age 52 to a failed attempt at stem cell transplant for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. My 85-year-old father has a history of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), and Age-related Dry Macular Degeneration, and my 55-year-old husband is a five-year survivor of prostate cancer which luckily was radically operable, but now has Type 2 Diabetes. My 21-year-old son has severe anxiety with depression. Despite these existing conditions and deaths, each person remained independent with their care, and activities of daily living. I would like to think my healthcare knowledge and Community Health experience have played a big part in supporting and encouraging each of us to remain functioning, independent, and aware of when and how to access the necessary resources.
Even my mother and brother were independent to the day they had to be hospitalized where they both ended up passing away. Neither of them ended up coming home where they would have needed home support or nursing or OT/PT services. However, on the chance they would have needed such services, I was lucky enough to have the necessary knowledge and awareness in accessing the services, both from the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority for my mother and the Fraser Health Authority for my brother.
In my free time, I meet up with my friends, go on dates with my husband and family, attend Hot Yoga or Pilates classes, go for walks with my daughter, watch Korean drama shows - I love the suspense and thriller ones!
In my current place of work in Surrey, BC, I get the pleasure of watching our beautiful city view from my office window shown here.
MY PROFESSION
My nursing profession interacts with several multi-disciplinary professions, such as all Allied Health Professionals, Physicians, and other health organizations that also employ health professionals.
Within the health authority, these disciplines share a client’s care management while ensuring the client is safe to live at home. An example of interactions between the nursing staff and a social worker may include investigating a potential Adult Guardianship case for self-neglect, physical, emotional, or financial abuse, or services the client needs to access for housing and independent living. Nurses interact with physicians, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists for the client’s mobility and functional needs, and perhaps a dietitian for nutritional support when they cannot access other public or private resources. All disciplines also interact with physicians to report on the progress of their shared patient/client, or to consult on options for care management, medication and diagnostics orders, or other specialist referrals, and often with pharmacists on medication dispensing and delivery or administration. These are just some examples of the various interactions within professionals in the health delivery areas.
Furthermore, we may interact with other non-healthcare professionals such as accountants and other financial department professionals, staffing, payroll, benefits, HR, patient quality care office, and many more departments. These are the ones that support the staff within the organization.
The following are resources frequently accessed by our multi-disciplinary team members for information they need on providing quality care management and supporting the client in the community.
Additionally, there are frequent resources I access to support clinical decisions, as well as operational decisions as part of my role.
Click here for a related to my profession, role and other government resources.