From left: St. B nurses Anjola Oyewo and Chelsea Nichols.
June 16, 2025
With her first nursing job at St. Boniface Hospital, Chelsea Nichols found a sense of belonging.
Nichols, who works in the Hospital’s busy Emergency Department, knew from a young age that she wanted to be of service to others. “I wasn’t always sure what that would look like,” she said. “But once I started my nursing journey, I knew St. B was where I belonged.”
St. Boniface Hospital felt like such a good fit for Nichols, she didn’t even apply to work at any other health-care facilities in Winnipeg. “I just knew I wanted to be at St. B,” she explained. “I agree with its values; I had the best experiences through my practicums here.”
Nichols, along with fellow nurses Anjolaoluwa (Anjola) Oyewo and Emily Parker, are this year’s lucky recipients of the Wyrzykowski Family Graduate Nurse Awards.
All are recent Bachelor of Nursing program graduates: Oyewo from the University of Manitoba started working at St. B in October of 2024; while Nichols and Parker, both from Red River College Polytechnic, started their jobs at the Hospital in June and September of 2024 respectively.
The Wyrzykowski family of Winnipeg – longtime and generous supporters of the Hospital – established an endowment fund with St. Boniface Hospital Foundation for graduates employed in their first nursing jobs. The Hospital held a random draw of 105 eligible graduates hired in 2024 during National Nursing Week, May 12 to 18, 2025.
Nichols missed a phone call from her manager that week. “She left a message, ‘Please call me back’ with no explanation. So, the gears were turning in my head: uh-oh, did I do something wrong? But then I called her, and she said no, I had been selected as a recent grad.”
Anjola Oyewo, Surgery Resource Team
Oyewo, who is from Nigeria, has a permit to work in Canada and is working towards her Permanent Resident (PR) status. She is planning to put her share of the award money towards the PR application process, which she acknowledged is expensive.
About nursing, she says her personality goes well with her job. “I’m a compassionate person. I love helping people in their most vulnerable moments. But maybe I wasn’t expecting the harder days at work,” she added with a laugh. “As nurses it’s in our personalities to take on others’ emotional burdens. It can be hard to leave behind after a shift.”
“I was truly honoured and humbled to be selected for the Wyrzykowski Family Graduate Nurse Awards,” she said. “I was surprised and excited when my manager called me! It was the day after my birthday.”
Emily Parker, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Parker’s experience as a teen mother showed her a future in nursing. “I had my two sons when I was 18 and 19 years old, when I was still in high school. I always wanted to do something in the field of helping women, and the nurses I had were incredible. I realized then I was interested in nursing as a career.”
“It’s an incredible feeling.”
Since she started to work at St. B, Parker has been in the NICU. “There’s no better feeling than being able to discharge a baby home to their family. Or, seeing their little milestones as they get healthier and stronger and ready to go home. It’s an incredible feeling,” she said.
Nursing school was “not cheap,” said Parker. “As a single parent, anything extra amounts to help me and my boys (ages eight and nine), for which I am so grateful. That goes directly to my student loans,” she said.
Nichols agreed the award money will help with her own student loans. “It’s great to be recognized, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s encouraging too. I will never forget this,” she said.