Agnes Lomoro is an Internationally Educated Nurse (IEN) who is bringing healing to her home in Pictou County.
A newcomer to Canada, Agnes works at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow, a 24-hour emergency, inpatient, outpatient, and community-based services facility. It is one of two hospitals in Pictou County, serving a population of over 40,000.
One of her favourite things about working as a nurse at the Aberdeen is the culture and the opportunity to work with so many different people, including both other IENs and people born in Canada:
“You kind of just realize that everyone has so many different upbringings and perspectives. That’s the interesting thing about working in health care because we all bring different aspects of ourselves.”
She says there is so much to learn from people in her work. She can learn from their talents, beliefs, and everything they know about life. At the Aberdeen, she has the space to take it all in, which has also helped her learn a well-known quirk of rural Nova Scotia.
“I was telling a friend the other day that if you meet someone today in New Glasgow or throughout Pictou County, even if you don’t know that person, you must know someone who knows that person.”
“Here in Nova Scotia,” Agnes affirms, “the people are really so friendly and just want to get to know you. Back home, it is like, ‘Hello, I am here to be treated, that’s it, take care of me and let me go home,’ and here, everybody wants to chat and find out more about you.”
Agnes was born in South Sudan, a country located in northeastern Africa. Growing up, there often was no healthcare available due to ongoing conflict in the country, which propelled Agnes to join the medical field. She started her nursing studies around 2013 while living in Kenya as a refugee.
Despite her efforts and hard work, – including attaining her degree – her refugee status left her future uncertain. “I couldn’t quite know if an employer would be willing to employ me because I didn’t have the right papers, I didn’t have the national identity cards, and I didn’t even have a work permit,” says Agnes.
In 2019, Agnes applied for Canada’s Economic Mobility and Pathways Pilot Program, seeing it as a more certain chance to work in her desired field. She immigrated to Canada in 2021, and just two years later, Agnes became a member of ISANS’ Board of Directors. She served on the board for about six months. But before Agnes was a board member, she was first an ISANS client:
“I connected with ISANS because I needed help with my CV to tailor it to the Canadian system. I was trying to look for a job and also trying to get more services because when I started getting more information about ISANS, I knew that there were a lot of services it offered to immigrants.”
Agnes was inspired to join the board to help widen ISANS’ reach to rural areas and spread awareness of its services, especially to new IENs.
As an IEN herself, Agnes knows how IENs can help solve many of the problems facing the healthcare system in Nova Scotia. One way, she explains, is to add to the number of available staff, which increases the patient-to-nurse ratio, benefiting client safety and care. It also allows nurses to take better care of themselves, with more rest and days off so they don’t overwork.
Agnes also explains that IENs bring a certain commitment to their work. They each have their own story, and because many can’t get work in their home countries, they are grateful for and proud of the work they have here.
“You want to work, you want to create a positive impact on people’s lives, and you also want to create something for yourself, so I find IENs are really very hard working. I think any organization or health care place would really want to find people who are dedicated to their work.”
Agnes, for example, brings all her experience to the work she does, and it helps her overcome many obstacles.
“Sometimes I find situations really challenging, especially at the workplace. Sometimes it’s really busy. But then I’m like, if I have been able to overcome so many obstacles to get where I am, I don’t think there’s really anything that I cannot overcome right now,” says Agnes.
Agnes is still new to her role in healthcare and wants to take her time learning as much as possible, but in the future, she’s considering going back to school for her master’s. If she does, we here at ISANS will be cheering her on.