Nurse To Know: Jacob Ahiaegbe
This month’s Nurse To Know is Jacob Ahiaegbe, RN MBA and ARNM President-Elect.
Jacob is the director of resident care at the Betel Home Foundation. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as a Master of Business Administration at Laurentian University. He began his career as a bedside nurse in Ontario, working in both acute and long-term care settings. He then began teaching as a sessional instructor with the Cambrian College Collaborative Bachelor of Nursing Program.
In 2015, Jacob moved to Manitoba where he worked as a community health nurse in rural and remote northern communities. He is committed to continuing the legacy of Manitoba nurses to drive health system transformations that lead to better health outcomes for all Manitobans.
Why did you decide to become a nurse?
Growing up as a child, I wanted to study medicine, like my uncles. I wanted to save lives and earn a good living doing it. After high school nursing seemed to be a good segue into the medical profession. However, as I progressed through my nursing education, I started to appreciate nursing as a profession with its own unique body of knowledge within the broader health care sector. This also came with better understanding of who we are as a profession and the realization that nurses have the power to change the world. Just look at Manitoba’s history, and how nurses transformed public health care delivery over the last 100 years.
My fellow nurses practicing today in acute care, community health, in long term care, in academics etc. their impact on individuals, communities, our province, and our country is palpable. Our work, regardless of specialty area or scope of practice is meaningful because we are improving lives and making other’s tomorrow better.
I would like to share the story of a young man I met at work. This individual had just been discharged from Grace hospital intensive care unit. He saw me in the hallway, upon noticing my badge he stopped me to share his story of how nurses gave him a second chance in life. He was emotional as he narrated his relationship with substance misuse and the subsequent overdose that nearly cost him his life. He credited the nurses in ER who did not write him off and did everything possible to get his heart restarted, the ICU nurses who were steadfast even when his condition deteriorated, and all hope was loss. He emphasized that their expert and nurturing care healed him and gave him life. Nurses secured his tomorrow, and this young man vowed to make good.
This is one of countless empowering stories from everyday people whose lives were touched by nurses. Nursing in my view is an extremely rewarding profession. It is an altruistic call to service. In a world filled with trauma and uncertainty nurses bring hope, comfort, and safety to people when they are most vulnerable. What we do as nurses is bigger than any one individual or interest. There is no greater reward, than knowing you are a part of something greater, that each working minute, each working hour, and each working day, is an opportunity to change lives and shape someone's future.
What does being a nurse mean to you?
To me, being a nurse is everything; it means altruism, kindness, resilience, compassion, enlightenment, movers and change agent - in service to others.
What have you been most passionate about throughout your career and why?
Nurses have the power to change the world and to do that, we must be taken seriously, and to be taken seriously, we must be visible. My passion is amplifying our collective voices and continuing the advocacy work of our profession from the bedside to policy and decision-making tables.
What advice would you pass along to newer nurses?
The decision to become a nurse says a lot about you. It means you are not ordinary, but extraordinary. It means you have great kindness and a desire to meaningfully impact the lives of others. My advice to you- do not forget your “why” and let it be your guiding light throughout your career. Let it empower you and use it to fuel your passion each day because as nurses we serve a great purpose to humanity.
What do you enjoy most about being a nurse?
What I like most about being a nurse is the privilege to care for another human being, to give love and compassion, to enlighten, and be a part of others' journey to healing. Knowing the significance of my actions in that person achieving their success.
Are there any last words you'd like to pass along?
Recruitment and retention of nurses, climate change, housing and food insecurity, global health crisis such pandemics are among many complex challenges facing our province, our country, and the world. The collective voice of nurses is needed more than ever to advocate and inform healthy public policy to secure a better tomorrow for everyone. Our provincial association is the only collective voice we have as a profession because it represents all nurses regardless of your specialty, scope of practice, or registration status (retired or student). I urge all nurses and nursing students to maintain their ARNM membership and if you have not registered with ARNM, to please register your membership today.