Inside the hospital in Terrace, British Columbia, fourth-year UBC Okanagan nursing student Christine Ferreira quickly realized she was experiencing a very different kind of clinical placement.

The placement was part of UBC Okanagan’s Rural and Remote Nursing Practicum, a fourth-year immersive program designed to give hands-on clinical training in smaller communities across BC and Canada.

Rural nursing felt very different to her previous experiences. The hospital environment was close-knit, with nurses, physicians and staff working together in ways she hadn’t encountered elsewhere.

“It feels very community-centred,” she says. “Everyone introduces themselves, everyone is friendly—even the doctors. You really feel welcomed as a new face.”

That sense of connection extends beyond workplace culture and into patient care. In rural settings, Christine observed nurses taking on a broader scope of practice, often stepping into multiple roles to meet patient needs.

“They do a little bit more here,” she explains. “You don’t have the same access to resources as in urban centers, so nurses really step up to fill those gaps.”

Originally from Northern BC, Christine was drawn to the idea of returning to the north for part of her training – something she only discovered was possible when she learned about rural placements.

Donor support plays a critical role in making rural and remote nursing placements possible. These opportunities often require students to cover significant travel, housing and living expenses—costs that can quickly put placements in northern communities out of reach.

For Christine, that support was transformative.

“It made it possible,” she says. “Travelling this far can be really expensive, and the funding helped with housing, meals—everything.”

Through her placement, Christine also gained a deeper understanding of the healthcare challenges facing rural and remote communities. Patients often experience longer wait times for rehabilitation services, specialist appointments and diagnostic imaging—sometimes requiring hours of travel just to access care.

“You really see how much extra effort patients have to make,” she says. “Some are coming from places like Kitimat or Prince Rupert just to get the care they need.”

Despite the challenges faced by both patients and healthcare worker in rural settings, Christine found the experience deeply affirming. She says the placement helped her feel both independent and supported on the clinical floor.

“I feel really confident now,” she says. “I feel comfortable asking for help, and I feel like I belong here.”

The impact has extended beyond the placement itself, helping to strengthen the healthcare workforce in a rural community where care is urgently needed. Christine has already applied to work on the unit where she trained—something she says she never would have considered without this experience.

“This placement definitely opened doors for me,” she says. “It made me realize that rural nursing is something I really want to pursue.”

For Christine, donor support didn’t just make a placement possible—it opened the door to new possibilities.

“It makes a huge difference for students,” she says. “It gives us opportunities we wouldn’t have had otherwise, and it lets us see what rural nursing is really like.”

With Giving Day on the horizon, Christine’s story shows how donor support is already helping UBC Okanagan nursing students gain hands-on experience in rural and remote communities—advancing healthier lives and helping build resilient, thriving healthcare systems across the small communities of BC’s vast interior.

Your support helps open doors for nursing students—and strengthen healthcare in communities that need it most.