Maria Rugg

As a child, I broke my leg and in the early 70s this required an overnight stay alone in a hospital. Having never been away from my family, let alone overnight, I still recall the terror and loneliness of the lights going out. The memory that really transformed my career choice was the nurse who said to me, “Stop crying or your parents will never come!"

With those words a passion was born. A passion to do better, be better and make a difference in the lives of those who are vulnerable and at risk. In the words of my seven-year-old self: "I want to be a nurse." So began a life that became more than a career, but rather a vocation that led me to define myself, above all, as a nurse.

I have been a registered nurse for the past 30 years spending the first half of my career clinically as a nurse in neonatal care, then as an acute care nurse practitioner with extensive experience in acute/chronic care focusing on palliative care, pain management, bereavement care and patient and family experience. I also spent time in public health as part of a nurse visiting postpartum program. The last 10 years my career has focused on adult palliative, cancer care and psychosocial care within the acute care and community setting. My experiences within these clinical settings have taken me from primary care, acute care, community care, as well as hospice care. My vocation as a nurse has included many patients, with my youngest being 23 weeks and my oldest 110 years old!

I have an honours nursing undergraduate degree at the University of Windsor and a master’s degree in nursing as a nurse practitioner/advance practice nurse from the University of Toronto. I also have a Canadian Nursing Association National certification in palliative care since 2003 (15 years certified in 2019) and I am presently a candidate for certification in the Canadian College of Health Leaders as a Canadian health executive for 2021.

My lifelong passion continues to be working in areas of patient experience such as palliative care and patient-related outcomes as they reflect the diversity of individuals and populations. These areas also facilitate change to help individuals and their families define health and overall wellbeing as they see it. I have worked to ensure that my areas of influence have pushed forward the patient experience from start to finish, for individuals and their families. I work hard to ensure that the patient’s experience reflects their definitions of values and goals of health. The key drivers of my contributions are to ensure that in connecting with society and the social and health-care system, individuals and their families overall wellbeing are influenced in a positive and self-sustaining way. I am fortunate to have been afforded these opportunities in all the areas I have worked and volunteered in, including management, clinical leadership, education, continuous quality improvement and research.