It is truly my pleasure and honour to be joining the board of directors for ARNM. For those of you who do not know me, allow me to introduce myself: I am Shannon Guerreiro.

It all started with a BA in sociology. After graduation I worked in a clinic alongside nurses who encouraged me to consider nursing. I enrolled and I graduated from The Misericordia school of nursing diploma program. My nursing career began at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

As a bedside nurse at the HSC, I worked in the Spinal Cord unit, the Stroke and Head injury unit, Neuro-Rehabilitation, Adult Medicine, Adult Psychiatry and even did a stint in the General Adult Float Pool. After 10 years as a diploma prepared nurse, I completed my BN degree and in 2006 I began my adventure in nursing leadership - first as manager of the Spinal Cord Injury unit and then as manager of the HSC emergency department.

After 20 years at the Health Sciences Centre, I went to the Seven Oaks Hospital. I completed my master’s degree in nursing administration, and was the Program Director for several programs, including Geriatric Mental Health, Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Primary Care and Oncology. From there I moved to the Grace hospital where I was the Director for Emergency, the ICU and for Primary Care.

I left the Grace to become the site Chief Nursing Officer at the Deer Lodge Centre. Then I was recruited to the Northern Health Region as the Regional VP of Clinical Services, Inter-Professional Practice and Chief Nursing Officer. My oversite included six hospitals, four personal care homes and the community and public health programs.

Working in the North from 2018-2023 proved to be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. The Northern Health region encompasses two-thirds of the area of Manitoba. Among the many challenges I faced was ensuring that the marginalized Northern population of which 70% is Indigenous were able to access the same quality of care experienced by other Manitobans. Leading the team through the pandemic was an incredible task but our region’s efforts resulted in one of the lowest per capita Covid cases and death rates in the province.

Currently my nursing career has turned to teaching in the BN program at the University of Manitoba. Teaching affords me the opportunity to share my passion for nursing and patient care with the next generation of nurses. I can use my front-line and leadership experience to provide real-world examples of how the nursing profession interacts with patients, the health care system, and the public. I am particularly interested in teaching about the social determinants of health in my Law and Ethics and Human Diversity classes. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to help shape the education of our future nurses!

Over the years I have served on the board of directors for Women’s Health Clinic, The North End Women’s Centre, and the Canadian Paraplegic Association (Manitoba Possible). I now welcome the opportunity to share my skills, passion for nursing and knowledge to support the ARNM in their mission of being the “professional voice of nursing” in Manitoba. Through my place at the director’s table I aim to help the ARNM achieve their strategic goals.