The Altona and District Health Care Board has awarded the Dr. S.S. Toni Scholarship for 2021.

Carlissa Dyck of Rosenfeld was this year's recipient, picking up $600 to use towards her studies.

In pursuit of her Bachelor of Nursing Program at Brandon University, Dyck is entering the final year in the program this fall. She recently completed her final clinical practicum at Boundary Trails Emergency Room.

“The staff is great there! I loved the atmosphere as a whole,” she said. “The adrenaline of it, the crazy stuff that comes in. That's where I'm hoping to end up, the emergency room. I'm not sure which hospital or where, but I really like the emergency room.”

The application process required Dyck to explain her choice of profession.

“Growing up in a small town, my mom has been a nurse for over 30 years. I found it so fascinating as a child that all my friends would come to me and say, ‘Oh, your mom was my nurse, she was amazing, she's the best!’ It had that fascination for me as a child."

Dyck says as she grew older she gained respect for the profession as a whole and for her mom.

“I love her heart, and serving. I wanted to follow that.”

Dyck feels having to deal with her own mental illness enables her to connect very well with her patients.

How did COVID affect her studies?

“It messes up the school year,” she explains. “For example, last year we had to move courses around. So I was actually in school during the summer. But we're all on track now and everything is looking good.”

Dyck plans to put the $600 scholarship towards the cost of her final year in the nursing program.

Dr Toni was a local practitioner from the Altona area who left money behind in his estate to support local students entering the field of medicine.