When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it took only 20 minutes for Lily Tretiak, a physician in Kyiv, and her husband to decide to leave everything behind.
After travelling through Hungary with their two young children, and spending nine months in Italy with Tretiak’s godmother, they eventually arrived in Canada through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program.
Making difficult decisions has become a part of Tretiak’s reality, and her shifting priorities are part of what inspired her to choose a career in nursing.
“I feel that I can be a better nurse, than a physician,” says Tretiak who currently works in a retirement home for Ukrainian speaking older adults. “My experiences with war and having to leave my home twice and start over have changed me, but I am looking forward to studying again and being a part of the Bloomberg Nursing community.”
This September, Tretiak joins the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto as a first-year student in the accelerated two-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (BScN). For Tretiak, nursing offers a chance to engage more deeply with patients through communication and empathy.
This is the second time Tretiak’s life has been upended by war. Originally from the Donetsk region of Ukraine, she moved to Kyiv after that area was occupied by Russia in 2014, leaving behind a place that held peaceful and happy memories especially during her time as a medical student at Donetsk National Medical University.
When she arrived in Canada, Tretiak considered obtaining her medical license again, but the complexity and volume of paperwork led her to reassess her priorities.
“I had lost a lot of people already including many of my friends, and I no longer connected my happiness to my professional goals. It felt impossible to go back to that kind of a life, and I didn’t want to sacrifice my time with my family,” says Tretiak.
A colleague at her workplace introduced her to resources for internationally educated medical graduates and nursing quickly emerged as both a viable and fulfilling pathway to remain in the health care profession. Tretiak was also drawn to the range of opportunities available to nurses in the profession noting that many U of T Nursing graduates go on to become clinical managers or leaders in health policy.
“There was no other choice for me, I only applied to U of T and I am so happy I received an offer. I saw that nurses could also be in leadership positions, and maybe that will be a part of my journey in the future, but for now, I am also happy to continue working with older adults, and see where my path in nursing takes me,” says Tretiak.
As a mother of two young children Tretiak is preparing to balance the demands of the accelerated BScN program with family life. She is grateful for the support of her parents who have joined her in Canada and is confident in her decision to return to school.
“You don’t know what will happen in a year, or even in a few months from now, having lived through leaving your home and starting over, it makes you more decisive,” says Tretiak.
She is especially looking forward to her clinical placements and is eager to apply her existing healthcare knowledge while learning new approaches and procedures. She already envisions herself as a successful nurse and imagines giving herself a congratulatory pat on the back when she completes the program.
Asked how she maintains such a positive perspective on her life after having gone through such hardships, Tretiak shares a saying paraphrased from philosopher Emmanuel Kant – “After it rains, some see only mud in a puddle, others see the stars.”
“Your point of view is how you generate positivity,” says Tretiak, “and that is what I try to do in every aspect of my life.”