Nicole Lord’s Journey in Healthcare
May 26, 2025
Embracing Heritage and Leadership: Nicole Lord’s Journey in Healthcare
As Asian Heritage Month unfolds, it offers a chance to honour the rich cultural contributions of Asian Canadians in all walks of life, including healthcare. At Stevenson Memorial Hospital, Nicole Lord stands out not only for her leadership but also for the thoughtful way she integrates her heritage into her approach to care and collaboration.
Nicole currently serves as the Interim Clinical Manager of the Dialysis, Outpatient Clinic, and Perioperative Programs. While she stepped into this interim leadership position in May of this year, her roots at Stevenson go back to 2020. With a background that spans diverse clinical areas and a personal heritage just as multifaceted, Nicole brings a unique lens to both her work and her team.
“I have always loved working in teams,” she shares. “Growing up, I played sports, and after I chose a career in nursing, I saw how stellar clinical teams made such a difference to patient outcomes and staff satisfaction. Nursing leadership has given me opportunities to learn and grow in my clinical understanding, and I've met and worked with a variety of teams. The teamwork is complex and sometimes difficult, but so interesting.”
For Nicole, no two days are the same. Her workday can include anything from troubleshooting patient concerns to diving into spreadsheets to analyze data. “Mornings often involve rounding with units to understand challenges or successes in the clinical work... Some days it’s helping support upset patients or families, and others it’s working in Excel to check schedules or monitoring operational data.”
What drives her daily is problem-solving, especially when it’s a team effort. “I love to solve a good problem. Complex or simple, I love the aspect of figuring out all the facts and laying out options to figure out the next best step. I find it especially rewarding when doing this as a team.”
A Deeply Personal Heritage
Nicole’s cultural background is rich and diverse: she is half Japanese, one-quarter Scottish, and one-quarter Ukrainian. This blend of traditions has shaped her identity and her values in quiet, yet powerful ways. “Food, of course,” referring to one of the most tangible ways culture permeates our lives. “A love for different foods coming from a family of different backgrounds.”
But beyond the palate, her heritage has also instilled core values that guide her approach to both life and leadership. “The values of integrity and respect seem to come to mind when I think about how my Asian side of the family has influenced me.”
This influence has helped shape a healthcare professional who leads with empathy, understanding, and an open mind. “Support to me can take on many different forms,” she explains. “Some team members need an advocate to get them the right tools or resources to do their jobs. Some need space to be creative or help in building a great department. I think understanding each staff member—their motivators and challenges—gives me insight into how best to help each team and each member.”
Resilience Through Generations
For Nicole, Asian Heritage Month is not just a cultural celebration—it’s also a time of remembrance and reflection. “It’s a reminder to remember the past,” she says. Her grandparents, of Japanese descent, were forcibly relocated to internment camps in Canada during the Second World War—a dark chapter in the country’s history.
“My grandparents went through a lot during World War II and were in internment camps. I am so grateful for how they became resilient out of that experience and built a great life for my dad, starting from nothing.”
This family history resonates deeply with Nicole and shapes the way she views the patients and colleagues she encounters every day. “My grandparents went through something terrible and hard, but they rarely talk about it. It must have had such an impact on their lives, but you would never know about that from the surface. It’s such an important thing to remember about every single person we care for—you don’t know the traumas and experiences that they’ve gone through.”
Representation, Respect, and the Power of Connection
In a healthcare setting, Nicole believes that representation and cultural awareness are vital, not just for the sake of inclusion, but because they enhance the quality of care and the strength of teams. “I think it’s important to share your values and your background to help others connect and understand how you view the world,” she says. “Some vulnerability helps connect people as another human being while celebrating differences.”
While Nicole says she hasn’t faced any significant barriers related to her heritage during her career, she acknowledges that representation matters, especially for young people considering careers in healthcare. Her message to them is clear: “Embrace your background, be proud, and celebrate being different.”
Leading With Heart
Nicole’s approach to leadership is a reflection of her values—values shaped by her family, her cultural heritage, and her experiences as a nurse. “Nursing is an incredible profession,” she reflects. “It’s a career rich in opportunities and is such a privilege to be there for patients and their families in the best and worst times of their lives. I am so lucky to get to practice nursing leadership next to some incredible nurses at Stevenson.”
Whether she’s helping a colleague find their voice, solving complex operational challenges, or reflecting on the quiet strength of her grandparents, Nicole brings a thoughtful, grounded perspective to everything she does.
Her story is a reminder that behind every leader is a rich tapestry of experiences, culture, and history—threads that, when embraced, create the strongest teams and most compassionate care.