LONDON, ONT. -- Ashley Blackburn Oulette is about to launch into her new career, even as final exams await, “It’s awesome to be able to help people, especially at a time like this. This is exactly what we signed up for as nurses. To help people and this is especially a time of need.”

After graduating from Mother Teresa Secondary School in London, Blackburn Outlette headed to Montreal, and is on the path to her career as a nurse.

“From high school I went to CEGEP (Collège d'Enseignement Général et Professionnel), which is a college here in Montreal. I did three years there in the nursing program. And then I graduated as a registered nurse. And then they give you the option, if you want to continue on and go to work, or if you want to go to school. So I went to McGill [University] and I’ve done a two-year course there and I now have my bachelor’s degree in nursing.”

Even with exams still to be written at the end of April, Blackburn Oulette will launch into her nursing career next week, on the front lines of the effort to stem COVID-19.

“What we call here Info Sante (similar to Telehealth Ontario), it’s a call service so you can call in and say your symptoms and see if you need to go to the hospital or not. They asked nurses if the can work, and to apply. And so that’s what I did. So I’m going to be working there, at the call centre. And I’m also going to be working at the Children’s Hospital.”

Blackburn Oulette admits being anxious about entering the nursing field at this time, but she sees the demand already being put on the current workforce and is anxious to help.

“It’s crazy how many nurses we need, especially since we were low on nurses before. And especially now, we’re super-low on nurses. So it’s important for health care workers to do what they can.”

And Blackburn Oulette has a message for her peers, people in their early 20s, that she sees on social media not taking the COVID-19 spread seriously.

“Think of other people, not just yourself. Especially people, even on the street, you can be walking, you can infect anyone. And then they can infect their grandparents or someone else’s grandparents. And it’s not good. And it’s just going to keep spreading.”