I was born and raised in England in the 1980s. A time when the UK National Health Service (better known as the NHS) would have looked much different. I have a vivid memory that still lives vibrantly in my mind. I was 5 yrs of age when my brother was hospitalized. I didn’t fully comprehend why he was in this cold, open unit (but I do remember wanting to desperately have his Cadbury chocolates that my Aunt told me to give to him). The large open room (hospital ward) was cold, long, full of light, filled with interesting characters (an elderly caucasian British patient who would smile presumably seeing the innocence in me to read my palm and tell me I would live for, “a very long time, until I was 81”. I remember the odd shaped kidney pan, the odd oxygen contraption planted to the wall behind my brother. I felt helpless, unsure, full of mixed emotions-yet, I still remember one: the stunning black British nurse who was assigned to my brother.
This wonderful nurse who walked into the cold, sad room would radiate nothing but pure joy, empathy, kindness and love. She was caring, funny, kind, jovial, and explained things gently. That nurse’s attitude and demeanour will always live in my head rent-free.
That nurse- unknowingly-would go on to inspire me to emulate her most powerful qualities: empathy, kindness, and compassion.
A picture of my brother and me, taken by our father in 1984 at our favourite park in the East End of London, England.
(Personal photograph by D. Sandhu, 1984).
I moved to Canada as a teenager, I never thought that being a nurse was my calling. I always knew that I would one day teach. I knew no other nurses growing up. I would start my undergraduate studies with a major in English and a minor in history. Topics that still entice me.
It wasn’t until I would spend some time in local Winnipeg hospitals visiting my sick Grandfather-who had bladder cancer-that I truly felt the pull toward nursing. I realized that the hospital environment I remembered as a child had left a lasting impression. The following year, after my grandfather’s passing, I traveled to India and return changed.
During three months in the rural and urban parts of northern India, I was exposed to a simpler life-one where luxuries I had grown up with were absent, where uniform healthcare was not accessible to all. I saw children panhandling with missing limbs, a country where beauty existed with hardship.
Something inside me shifted that year. It was 1999, and when I returned to Canada, I chose a path that felt right: a profession dedicated to making the world better by touching the lives of people from all walks of life-nursing.
I graduated in 2004 and have continuously found purpose in my work as a nurse. Over time, my passion expanded beyond patient care to include teaching-a calling I deeply value. I teach others, comfort them, and learn from the stories patients share.
In time, a third passion revealed itself: advocacy. I became a strong voice for both patients and nurses, committed to mentoring and supporting those around me. Nursing has never felt like just a job. Even through staffing shortages, the pandemic, and the challenges of healthcare politics, my commitment to my patients has remained unwavering.
I hope to share my passion and lifelong calling with you as you explore these pages. We are merely reflections of one another-and as Mahatma Gandhi poignantly said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Lang, 2008).
Welcome to my site, I am Rupinder Sandhu or as my patients and colleagues refer to me as, Nurse Rupi. I am located in Winnipeg, Canada and I currently work within Shared Health as a General Duty Nurse. Shared Health is Manitoba’s Provincial Health Authority. You can learn more about Shared Health by going to Sharedhealth.mb.ca
Behind every nurse is a story-this is mine.
Reference: Lang, Peter (2008). Transnational Perspectives on Culture, Policy, and Education: Redirecting Cultural Studies in Neoliberal Times. Austria.