"For myself being a woman resonates with me as care, compassion, nurturing but it also means empowerment that you can do anything that you set your mind to and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or try to stop you from achieving your goals and dreams".
Aman Grewal is the BC Nurses’ Union President. She began her nursing career at Surrey Memorial Hospital and worked in the pediatric unit, emergency department and in the pediatric emergency department. She is also passionate about pediatric diabetes and diabetes education and has worked as a Diabetes Educator in the Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) Diabetes Clinic, the SMH Pediatric Diabetes Clinic, and within the South Asian community providing diabetes education and testing.
She was elected as BCNU Vice President in 2019 and re-elected in 2020. Since being elected to the provincial executive, she has served as chair of BCNU's Human Rights and Equity Committee, Truth and Reconciliation Working Group, as well as several working groups including the Seniors Strategy and Internationally Educated Nurses. She believes in advocating for social justice and raising equity issues for patients, communities, and members which includes fighting to ensure fellow nurses' rights are protected.
What does being a woman mean to you?
For myself being a woman resonates with me as care, compassion, nurturing but it also means empowerment that you can do anything that you set your mind to and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or try to stop you from achieving your goals and dreams.
What has been your biggest achievement in 2021?
Circumstances I was not involved in, landed me in one of my biggest achievements in 2021, becoming the President of the BC Nurses Union. I would have to say that this is my personal and career high professional achievement representing 48,000 members.
What are you working on right now and in 2022?
We have entered 2022 with many leadership changes in our organization and now have built a leadership team that will work towards achieving a new collective agreement when our contract expires March 31, 2022. I will be busy with the bargaining team while still bringing the concerns and issues of nurses forward to the forefront.
Who inspires you to do better each day?
My mom inspires me to do better, and I strive to be like her. My mother has been such a self-less woman whom I have been amazed by my entire life. My mother and father came to Canada in 1965 to care for my maternal grandfather who became quadriplegic following an accident while he was walking on a street in Abbotsford. While my father worked to provide for the family, my mother was the one who made the house a home and not only took care of her father, young children, cooking and cleaning for other members of the extended family and their relatives that my parents accepted into their home to afford them the opportunity to succeed in their new-found country and purchase homes and bring their families to Canada. Throughout her entire life my mom has always looked for opportunities in all that she faces and has shared that with us including a passion for knowledge, travel, and being compassionate.
What’s your advice for women who wish to follow your path?
Follow your dreams and wishes, the nursing profession affords you countless opportunities to provide care, educate and lead. Become a part of the team and choose the career direction you want to go in. What is your passion, working with the elderly or babies and children or are you in the need for some adrenaline pumping work in the Emergency department or intensive care unit? You could become a clinician, mentor or educate in the post-secondary institutions. There is community, rural, public and home health and primary care settings where you can practise. I encourage you to reach out and learn how you can join this noble and respected profession.
Photo: A Master Media