Sprott Shaw Hero Highlight: Kirby L. Opiña

In today’s current times, healthcare workers are some of the most important workers as they are the ones fighting in the frontlines every day, risking their lives to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of others.

At Sprott Shaw College, we are honoured and proud to educate, train, and see the successes of our students in our nursing and healthcare programs – and Kirby L. Opiña is no exception.

From Sprott Shaw Student to Patient Care Attendant

Kirby was a Practical Nursing student from our New Westminster campus who graduated in early 2019. As one of our featured Sprott Shaw Heroes, we are so proud of Kirby and everything that he has accomplished in his career since graduating with us.

Two years ago, Kirby began his career with Providence Health Care and joined the team at St. Paul’s Hospital in Downtown Vancouver.

For Kirby, the team at Providence Health Care accept him and support him in the units he is assigned to in the hospital. As he says, his job gives him the opportunity to work with incredible colleagues in the medical team from different departments across the hospital.

Today, Kirby is a Patient Care Attendant at St. Paul’s Hospital. As a Patient Care Attendant, Kirby works in a few different units and wards as a part of his rotation including the Operating Room, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Surgery Ward, Medicine Ward, Mental Health Unit, and Cystic Fibrosis Acute Unit.

Life as a Patient Care Attendant at St. Paul’s Hospital

For Kirby, an “average” day is always busy. Every day, he is always learning and being educated by his clinical nurse leader (CNL) about how he and his teammates can handle patients from different units of the hospital and their unique needs. Clinical nurse leaders are providers and managers at the point of care who are accountable for the outcome of patient care, so he spends a lot of time working with his CNL to ensure patients are cared for appropriately.

In his role, Kirby’s favourite part of the job is being able to provide the proper quality of care for every patient that he meets and handles. By doing this, he can assess himself as a patient care provider and offer the best healthcare procedures that a patient needs according to their care plans. He loves that he can also encourage his patients to participate in their activities of daily living (ADL) in order for them to be successful and meet their care needs while admitted to the hospital.

When asked for a few last words, this is what Kirby had to say, “First, thank God for this opportunity that I didn’t expect to be a part of in life – this is the kind of environment that I aspired to work in since I started as a student. Second, thank you Sprott Shaw!!! Thank you for being supportive every day until the end of my studies at the New Westminster campus!! Thank you to my instructor for moulding me as a true health care professional in this society, confidently with all your heart. And lastly, for current and future students who will see this blog and see me in the future as my colleague, always remember that I was like you before. I had a small dream and never stopped believing in myself until I arrived where I want to be right now. Follow your heart and fulfill your dreams. Thank you so much.”

At Sprott Shaw, we want to thank all of our healthcare heroes and essential workers like Kirby who are going above and beyond in their workplace. We are so proud to have hardworking and diligent workers like you! Thank you!