Phoebe Chometa finds joy and inspiration by ‘empowering new nurses’
By Laura Eggertson
October 6, 2025
Courtesy of Phoebe Chometa
Phoebe Chometa initially struggled when she came to Canada, but she focused on her dream of becoming a better nurse, visualizing her goal of becoming a nurse leader. And she vowed to put her experiences to use. “I said, ‘One day, if I get through this challenge, I will make sure to help the next new nurse. No nurse should be scared to start a career’,” she says.
When Phoebe Chometa sees the internationally educated nurses that she has mentored and guided succeed, she knows her difficult transition into the Canadian health-care system was worth the struggle.
“When I am able to empower new nurses and see them grow under my leadership, guidance, and direction, and to share my values that I have learned on my journey through nursing, it brings me joy and inspires me,” she says.
Phoebe, 53, recently became a manager of medical day care and endoscopy at St. Paul’s Hospital and Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. Formerly, she was the manager of nursing on a vascular and thoracic surgery unit and ostomy and wound care at St. Paul’s Hospital.
She arrived in Saskatchewan 16 years ago following a decade of nursing practice in the Middle East. She acquired her baccalaureate in nursing in the Philippines, her country of origin. While in the Middle Eastern part of the world, she practised nursing in the operating room, the perioperative environment, endoscopy, and the post-anesthesia care unit.
After visiting a friend in Regina and touring the major cities in Canada from west to east in 2007, Phoebe fell in love with Saskatoon and decided to make it her new home, despite the daunting prospect of Canadian winters.
“I was sure I didn’t want to drive in the winter,” she says, laughing.
But the winters weren’t the hardest aspect of her new life. It was the transition into a new country, and a new health-care system.
The moment that Phoebe walked into her first Canadian workplace at St. Paul’s Hospital, she said, “Lucky are those Canadians because they do not have to go far to build a career and a future.” She was hopeful. She was full of enthusiasm to join her new team in Canada.
When she began working in general surgery nursing (as there was no available operating room nursing positions at that time), she recognized that this was a totally new and different world for her.
One thing she noticed was a lack of dedicated classroom time to learn policies, procedures, care for common types of surgeries, or even anything about the Canadian health-care system. She was given seven “buddy” shifts, each time with a different “buddy” nurse.
She compared her new situation with her previous job in the Middle East, which was well supported with onboarding and mentorship for three months, including two dedicated senior staff members. “I thought that maybe they were not adept at hiring foreign workers,” she says.
Another challenge was communication. Even though her nursing training was entirely taught in English — and prior to licensing in Saskatchewan she needed to write an English proficiency exam — it was a challenge because Phoebe was not familiar with the common colloquialisms and slang terms, which were commonly used by her new colleagues at work.
For instance, there was a time when a patient said, “I need to go to the can.” She had to leave the patient and find someone to ask what “can “ meant.
“It was difficult for my coworkers and patients to understand my accent.” Phoebe speaks three languages and five dialects of the Philippines. Not one to be deterred, she took every opportunity for conversational English that she could find, as well as recording herself and listening for where she could improve. Eventually she owned a Saskatchewan urban dictionary.
Gratitude journal
Without friends, and new to the community, Phoebe felt isolated. She worked 12-hour shifts and when she had time off, she spent it alone in her apartment. When she would call her family, she was often in tears. Her father reminded her that during her first job overseas, she was discouraged, yet she made it through for more than a decade. He encouraged her to write down anything positive that happened during her days and to persevere.
Phoebe began keeping a gratitude journal. She noted the beauty of the South Saskatchewan River, which became her favourite walking spot; the pleasure of eating her breakfast in the park; and the peace she felt driving around the countryside. “I also wrote about my progress at work, even helping a collegue start an intravenous infusion,” Phoebe says.
She focused on her dream to become a better nurse, visualized leadership as a goal, and vowed to share her experiences from this time. “I said, ‘one day, if I get through this challenge, I will make sure that I will help the next new nurse.’”
“No nurse should be scared to start a career,” she says.
Now, as the manager of more than 85 nurses and 20 support staff, Phoebe has kept that vow. She’s developed an onboarding program based on the evolving needs of the new nurses and demands of health care in our post pandemic world. Staff retention is at an all-time high and there are no RN vacancies.
Phoebe was also a member of the Saskatchewan Health Authority recruitment team, a Ministry of Health initiative, that made two trips to the Philippines. She used her knowledge of the Philippines and Canadian health-care system to help match candidates for employment in Saskatchewan.
On May 11, 2023 ,she received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her valuable contribution to the province of Saskatchewan.
Buddy system
Internationally educated nurses and recent graduates who join Phoebe’s unit are now paired with nurse “buddies” for nine to 12 days. Before they take a patient assignment, the new nurses are given a total of 56 hours of classroom time and eight hours of familiarizing themselves with the unit, including time for a scavenger hunt.
They learn the roles of all designations on the nursing unit and they learn about the technologies they’ll be working with. This ensures “they have time to get to know the people they will be working with,” says Phoebe.
Phoebe believes that onboarding is a crucial time. It’s a chance for new staff to get to know everyone, and it’s a chance to make expectations clear, which sets the vision for their practice.
Praise is critical
Above all, she makes sure that praise is delivered as it is needed for their accomplishments and progress, so they are not weighed down by the criticism that initially discouraged her.
“Even a five-minute check-in on how they are doing makes a difference,” Phoebe says.
Check-ins with staff members are times where she can get to know them and let them know how they are progressing, including seeing their strengths to help them achieve their career goals. Phoebe says new nurses in her unit start as novices, become preceptors, get trained to take care of high-acuity patients, and then become a relief charge nurse. Seeing them progress validates her management style, she says.
Phoebe also supports her team by planning activities like a yearly potluck and game days. These events help forge friendships among her team outside the workplace and ensure new nurses are less isolated than she was.
“Getting to know your staff — not just as workers — translates into retention,” Phoebe says.
As a manager, Phoebe is responsible for staying on budget, problem-solving when crises arise, and for human resources and patient and employee safety. She also has to stay on top of new trends — like a recent thoracic robotic surgery — and collaborate with the clinical nurse educator on staff education and competencies.
But for her, “the biggest challenge is growing our people,” she says.
Listening to her team and asking for help is vital, she adds.
Seeks help
“Even as a leader, I am very open to the fact that I also have room to grow and may need help sometimes. Leaders get overwhelmed with tasks too. Knowing what you can do and what you can’t and seeking help from your team — I do not think that’s a form of weakness from a manager. I think it’s necessary so you can work together as a team.”
That teamwork may involve helping one of the housekeeping staff or a nursing assistant when they need it, Phoebe says.
“A little kindness goes a long way, and in that way, you’re building relationships. You can’t practise nursing on your own,” she points out.
At home, Phoebe is grateful for the support she gets from her husband, who understands her job challenges intimately. Her husband, James Chometa, is also a registered nurse and manages the intensive care unit at St. Paul’s.
During the toughest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, their different shifts often made time together a challenge, she says. Now that the worst has passed, they are making up for that stress by travelling — their last trip was to Turkey. Both also enjoy playing pickleball with friends and spending time with their two dogs, Ruby and Nina.
Phoebe hopes sharing her story will help new nursing graduates — be they internationally or domestically educated — feel inspired rather than alone.
Sometimes — particularly during the winter — she still gets homesick for the Philippines.
“There are times I also ask myself, ‘Why am I here and what am I doing?’ But if that happens, I always go back to the days that I made a conscious decision to change, to make a difference in my career. I remind myself that my passion is to empower the new nurses who will be looking after us (one day),” she says, smiling.
Her final words of wisdom to new nurses? “Visualize what you want. Set your dream. Take every opportunity to improve your skills and never settle for less. Work hard and work from your heart. Be genuine to the people around you and those you serve. And never forget to send gratitude to those who have helped you get where you are.”
Laura Eggertson is a freelance journalist based in Wolfville, N.S.
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