We Are IH is a new recognition campaign to spotlight our people in a real way – through pictures and stories that allow their authenticity to shine through! Each month, four Interior Health employees or medical staff will be featured through our News@IH website and our weekly In the Loop Roundup email newsletter.
RN Shelley Ockenden is an Occupation Nursing Support Services Coordinator and recent long-term service award recipient after working at the Kamloops health unit for 33 years.
A country girl at heart, Shelley was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Ashcroft, B.C. before spreading her wings and settling in Kamloops where she has lived for the past 32 years.
Shelley followed her passion and love of working with children and their families as she developed her career, supporting children with special health needs and children in palliative care. Although Shelley would fix something for someone if she could, she learned that the best way to "fix" things for people is to imprint a memory of caring, alongside their hurt and their grief.
Shelley created positive change in the lives of the people she surrounded herself with including those within Interior Health. The initiatives she led including the resources she created, Supporting Families through Perinatal Loss Quick Guide and Leaning into Your Discomfort - How to Support Someone Who is Grieving, are a legacy that will continue to help people beyond her time at Interior Health. (Note: links accessible only within IH network.)
Fun is one of the many positive words people use to describe Shelley and we know that with her attitude, each and every day of her retirement will be full of fun!
Shelley wants to thank Interior Health and everyone who has worked alongside her as it's been a very memorable journey.
We will sincerely miss you, Shelley! Thank you for all that you've done! Cheers to an amazing 33 years together, you've touched the lives of so many people and we are so grateful for your service.
Check back each Friday for the next We Are IH feature.
For more information contact EmployeeExperience@InteriorHealth.ca.
Shelley's nomination of Cathryn Goodman keeps the We Are IH loop going:
"Because although she is newer into her role as manager Cathryn has made it a priority (in the time of COVID-19) to really try to get to know and support her team members."
Raised on a remote guide outfitting guest ranch near Smithers, B.C, Nancy-Jo has always thrived in nature, feeling most at home in the mountains. She has been privileged to live in the traditional, ancestral territories of the Nez Perce, Wet'suwet'en, and Ktunaxa Nations throughout her life, and currently calls Elk Valley in the East Kootenays home.
As a teenager, Nancy-Jo had to choose between her two passions – the sport of equestrian and alpine ski racing. Her decision fostered a “previous life,” where her drive for adventure and passion for alpine skiing took her across North America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and South America as a professional high-performance coach, and Canadian Ski Coaches Federation examiner and educator.
She currently works as a clinical operations manager, shifting from critical care and intensive care unit (ICU) work to primary care. Inspired by the teams she works with daily, Nancy-Jo says,
“I have always been motivated and excited to be immersed in an environment where quality improvement and change is the basis for making performance, systems, and experiences more efficient, person centered, and enjoyable.”
As a manager and team member, she values kindness, honesty, integrity, fair play, and willingness to work. She works to create a fun, inclusive environment, saying, “I embrace change of all kinds and the potential in all of those around me! Humour and joy at work are essential.”
Driven by a natural progression of curiosity and willingness to become more informed (and motivated by her accomplished sister), Nancy-Jo completed her master’s degree in 2021. She believes that if you have the opportunity and time to commit to further education, it is a goal well worth the effort. She is also proud to have been a participant and recent graduate of the Physician Quality Improvement (PQI) program.
As I venture further into my role as a manager, the moments when I hear staff laughing and expressing joy at work, or have staff confident to present new ideas of how we can improve as a team ... those are my "keeper" pride moments!
Nancy-Jo’s love for nature extends into her day-to-day work, as she advocates for environmental sustainability for IH and the health-care industry. She says, “I am truly hopeful that we can all help the IH initiative to make our industry less impactful on the environment and be creative with how we use what we use.”
Outside of work, you can catch Nancy-Jo exploring and adventuring the great outdoors with her partner Max, and favourite sidekicks - her Australian shepherds “Rocky Mountain” Ruby, and “Polar Peak” Pearl. Though she finds it difficult to narrow it down to one favourite outdoor activity, she is partial to a winter day spent backcountry skiing and earning fresh tracks by effort. In the summer, she loves fly fishing and hiking the Wigwam River, camping, and hiking and mountain biking the endless trails in the East Kootenays.
In both work and life, Nancy-Jo is always looking forward to the next challenge, whatever that might entail. As she says, “adventure is always calling!”
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