We Are IH: Kelowna psychiatric nurse strives for excellence

September 8, 2022

Name: Tanya Chmilar (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Registered Nurse/Registered Psychiatric Nurse
Years of Service: 25
Worksite: Community Health Services Centre
Community: Kelowna
Ancestral Territory: Syilx Okanagan
Advice to live by: Have fun and do your best. Maintain a work-life balance.

Tanya Chmilar lives her motto every day — both at work and in her personal life: Have fun and do your best. After earning her Psychiatric Nursing Diploma in 1985, and her General Nursing Diploma in 1988, Tanya worked in Vernon, Kelowna and Cranbrook psychiatric inpatient units. She moved to Vancouver to complete her BScN from the University of British Columbia (UBC), then worked in emergency and short stay psychiatry at St. Paul’s Hospital and UBC.

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Learn more about her journey with IH

Woman wearing safety gear lifting off the water on a wakeboard. — Tanya on her wakeboard.

Returning to the Interior in 1993, Tanya worked with Kamloops Community Mental Health, then in Kelowna. Seeing a need to “practice more upstream,” she switched to public health in 2005, working in Rutland, Vernon and Summerland — including time with overdose prevention.

Over the last two years, Tanya has worked with the North Okanagan COVID-19 Response Team.

I know we’ve made a difference. Now with the COVID-19 Therapeutics Clinic, we’re able to offer treatment for high-risk clients, and prevent severe illness and hospitalization.

-- Tanya Chmilar

In her free time, Tanya travels to dog shows with her Rough Collie and two German Shepherds. She is a Canadian Kennel Club Juniors Representative; two of her dogs, Thorin and Radar, are Canadian Grand Champions. Her youngest dog, Stealer, is in training for conformation, obedience, scent detection and tracking.

Tanya also enjoys watersports, including wakeskating and wakeboarding—two sports where she held championship titles— plus skiing and gardening.

A Rough Collie relaxes on a tan leather couch while a German Shepherd sits at attention on the wood floor in front of the couch. — Two of Tanya’s dogs at home: Thorin, the Rough Collie and Radar, the German Shepherd.

Woman kneeling next to rough collie with large purple dog show ribbon. — Tanya with her Rough Collie, Reserve Best in Show, Castlegar 2019.

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