This week we profile Pamela Crema, Regional Nurse Manager for the Interior Region. Pamela is of Saulteaux and Cree ancestry, has an MBA in Leadership Executive Management and is a member of the First Nations Health Managers Association.

Pamela comes to the FNHA after serving for six years as Regional Health Services Manager for Westbank First Nation.

Q: What do you do on any given day?
The Regional Nurse Manager, Interior Region, FNHA is a new and an evolving position. I work for 54 communities, seven Nations, and with a combination of positions that include health directors, nurses and nurse practitioners. My main focus has been to liaise with nurses, health directors and managers and to review education needs to begin to identify gaps, priorities and opportunities to develop partnerships.

Q: What does your family think you do?
I am not sure they really know what I do now, but both my mom and my grandma were nurses and my great grandmother was a medicine women, so I really feel that I am exactly where I am supposed to be at this point in my life.

Q: What do you like about working for FNHA?
As a nurse, I understand the challenges of working in community and I have also worked in the mainstream healthcare system, so I look forward to combining my areas of strength, in addition to new learning, in my work at FNHA. One thing that has really touched me is the inclusion of culture and spirituality into the work we do. Opening our day and our work with prayer is a really good, positive start.
 
Q: What would happen if no one performed your job and how would others be affected?
There is so much work that needs to be done, so it is important to build partnerships and teams. With the recent addition of Chief Nursing Officer, I see that the FNHA is on the cutting edge of health-care transformation and I am inspired and motivated to be part of that work.