Alumni Find Love in the Emergency Room
Married couple Tracy and DJ Gabriel are USask nursing alumni working as registered nurses in Yorkton.
Tracy Gabriel (BSN’05, MN’16) may be an integral part to the University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Nursing as an instructor at the Yorkton distributed nursing site, but it seems USask has close ties to her personal life as well.
Both she and husband DJ Gabriel (BSN’04) are graduates from the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS).
"We completed NEPS at the Regina Campus,” said Tracy.
“DJ was one year ahead of me in the nursing program, and we got married while we were both USask nursing students—we had student friends from years 2 and 3 at our wedding reception and we used to share textbooks!" she said while laughing.
The couple was introduced by a coworker when DJ was a paramedic earlier in his career, prior to studying nursing.
Now they both spend their time together at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre; her teaching USask nursing students and working casual as a utilization coordinator and DJ, as the clinical care coordinator for the emergency and intensive care unit.
Although not in the same unit now, previously Tracy and DJ used to work many shifts together in emergency!
Tracy has been an instructor with the USask College of Nursing since 2014 and is also a student, currently in the candidacy process for the cross-departmental Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program at the USask College of Education, with a focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her teaching in the nursing program has primarily been as an instructor in the simulation, skills and assessment labs, but also taking clinical groups to long-term care, medicine, surgery, and pediatrics.
While Tracy and DJ were newcomers to the Yorkton area, they love it. Seeing firsthand the experience of USask offering the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in Yorkton, Tracy said, “having options to study locally is something she recommends to all Yorkton and area students.”
"The learn where you live option gives students the opportunity to complete their studies to become registered nurses, while being in or close to Yorkton. It can be difficult to relocate, especially with small children or a spouse, to somewhere new with limited supports."
Now considering themselves local, both Tracy and DJ say they like being close to both work and nature.
“We came here as a result of a bursary for new nursing grads, but Yorkton has many services and that was important for us when considering where to live and work,” said Tracy.
"I reside 25 km west of Yorkton – my drive to work takes less time than when I lived in Regina considering parking and walking distance to the hospital,” adds Tracy.
“Snowmobile trails are accessible from our front door and we are a fifteen-minute drive from Good Spirit Lake – it is shallow and perfect for families, and the sand dunes are incredible," she said.
As a graduate of the Master of Nursing program, also through USask, she adds the program’s online delivery is such a benefit, one that allowed her to pursue further education without leaving Yorkton.
"For any graduate-level studies, it is important course delivery is conducive to work/family balance. I would not have been able to pursue a Master’s nor PhD if it wasn’t online and asynchronous."