A few weeks after Carolyn Notarandrea ‘10 began her new educational journey, her mom found an old kindergarten yearbook, under what she wanted to be when she grew up, Carolyn had written ‘Nurse’.

Thinking about that moment still brings tears to her eyes.

Prior to pursuing this passion, Carolyn had been a dance teacher who owned her own studio. “I’ve always been interested in health and the anatomy of the body. I took a 2-year program right out of high school that focused on exercise technology with the goal of opening a dance studio. I thought knowing about the body would be helpful.”

This early education would help her later in life when she decided to sell her studio and pursue a new career.

One day while chatting with one of her dancer’s mom, who worked as a nurse, Carolyn asked, “What in healthcare is needed?” She wanted to ensure that if she was going to return to school that it was for something that wouldn’t be difficult to get a job in once she was finished. “She replied, ‘why don’t you get your RN’ and I called Mohawk College that same day.”

It was late August when Carolyn reached out to Mohawk College advisors to see what she needed to do to study nursing. After first being told she would have to wait a year to apply the following March, she was lucky to get a call back within a few days, securing an open spot in the Pre-Health program that September. She reflects on the serendipitous situation, “I was driving home after dropping off my high school transcripts, thinking to myself, ‘what did I just do?’ I had basically signed myself up for five years of school. I’m really glad she called me back. If I had had to wait a full year to enroll I probably would have talked myself out of it. It was meant to be.”

The pre-health program was a quick year for Carolyn. She says, “although it was only one year it was a very demanding program. Most people are balancing families and part-time jobs so mapping things out to see due dates and scheduling time to complete assignments was very important.” Her dedication to the program helped with the next steps in her educational journey.

Graduating from Pre-Health in 2010, Carolyn enrolled in the Mohawk-McMaster Bachelor of Science Nursing (BScN) program; completing it in 2014.

Today, Carolyn works as an education and development clinician for Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) at their Satellite Health Facility – a hotel turned hospital that opened during the pandemic. The facility is used for an alternative level of care (ALC) unit, providing care to patients that no longer need acute care, but cannot return home and are waiting on beds elsewhere, typically in long-term care homes.

Her role consists of onboarding new staff, providing corporate training, and being a resource for existing staff that need assistance. “I enjoy working with the staff. Most of them come to our Satellite Health Facility new to the organization,” she says. Many new staff are transitioning from long-term care facilities or are internationally educated nurses who have just obtained their license in Canada. “I find their stories so inspiring. I want to help them any way I can to continue pursuing their nursing careers. Meeting those new staff is one of my favourite parts. I know that starting in an organization that is as large as HHS is very daunting, so I make sure I’m available to them for any questions and they’re very appreciative,” she says.

In 2018, Carolyn began teaching in the Mohawk-McMaster program from which she previously graduated. “Loving nursing, it had become a passion of mine, but when I started working with students and realized I could combine teaching and nursing together it made a lot of sense. My career path became a lot clearer.”

Recently completing her Master of Nursing from Athabasca University, Carolyn continues to expand her education to provide the best care for her patients and best teachings for her students.

By Meaghan Drury ‘12