BONNYVILLE - A Bonnyville nurse will be representing Alberta in the Miss Personality Canada National Competition taking place in Calgary this week.
Destiny Johnston, 25, is a licensed practical nurse who has been working in the Bonnyville hospital’s emergency room since she arrived in May. Johnston previously spent six years nursing in Camrose and made the journey north alongside her fiancé Tyler when his work brought him to the region.
“I work pretty much full-time emergency room nursing. It's a lot of work, but it's fun. And on the side, I run a non-profit organization that goes and educates and advocates for mental health in frontline workers,” said Johnston, who is also continuing her studies through Athabasca University in order to become a Registered Nurse.
Johnston graduated from her LPN program in 2019, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. At the time, she was living alone and working “crazy hours” at a hospital that was often short staffed.
“Between watching a lot of people die alone because of COVID and the restrictions, and then being assaulted at work – I was struggling through a lot,” said Johnston.
“I ended up in one of the emergency [rooms] in Edmonton because I didn’t want to go to my own town. And the emergency nurses looked at me, and when they found out that I was also a nurse, they said ‘You should just be able to handle everything because you’re a nurse’.”
She said she went back to work and went on with her life for about three years, but started looking at the situation more after another workplace incident.
“There was just so many people around me leaving on stress leave, and there was no real resources or help for them. They just kind of left, and that was that,” said Johnston.
She decided to start an educational blog called Forward Frontline with information on how to deal with the trauma of frontline work and mental health struggles in the workplace. From there, she reconnected with her college and began doing workshops for healthcare workers and first responders across the province.
Now, Johnston is partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association and Wounded Warriors, and has become an advocate with the Alberta Association of Nurses’ Government Relations Committee. The AAN is a professional organization that advocates for nurses of all types, including licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, nursing students, and retirees.
“A lot of people always say to me, it's crazy that you're advocating for stuff this young, because it's always the [older] people that are advocating for this kind of stuff,” said Johnston.
Johnston is fundraising for Sophia Lia Magazine, a free online publication for teens featuring stories about mental health issues and articles on self-care. You can show your support by voting for Johnston for the People’s Choice Award. Proceeds from votes also go to Sophia Lia Magazine.
The Miss Personality Canada National Competition is taking place in Calgary from Aug. 19 – 24.
According to PersonalityPageants.org, the competition is meant to be “a platform for personal growth, self-expression, advocacy, and empowerment.”
