ABRN-Summer14

nursing
excellence in
clinical practice
Sharon
Kelly
BN, RN
Sheldon Chumir Health Centre,
Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic
“What we do every day is solve puzzles.”
Sharon Kelly works in the Southern Alberta Renal Program
(SARP) at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in Calgary.
For more than 10 years this outstanding diabetes nurse clinician
has been an integral part of the health-care team. Sharon
has provided tremendous care to thousands of patients with
varying stages of kidney disease from mild renal dysfunction to
end-stage kidney disease. She also helps manage very difficult
patients on steroid therapy for their kidney transplants.
“Our patients are our mentors. Each is unique. The
answers we are looking for are often to be found in
our patients’ presentation rather than books.”
Sharon has pioneered novel therapeutic approaches to
diabetes management in patients with peritoneal dialysis.
She has developed guidelines promoting an understanding
of hypoglycemia in hemodialysis patients and for those with
very low kidney function that are not yet on dialysis.
“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when people
are not ‘guarding their territory.’ It allows us to
work together, combine skills and knowledge and
collaborate in research and writing to move forward
to new levels of knowledge.”
Sharon is a leader in approaching the patient as a whole entity,
medical and psychosocial. She is a leader and educator of her
colleagues, mentors chronic kidney disease nurses and is an
invaluable resource to nephrologists. She spends an enormous
amount of her personal time developing learning material for
her colleagues and patients as well as leading and participating
in community educational programs.
“It is an honour to work with my patients as an ally.
They are all sick, living on the edge... [they] make
the most of what life they have. Little differences
in treatment make those lives so much easier.”
Sharon is part of a multi-disciplinary team but is definitely
the go-to person for diabetes concerns. Her advocacy
raised the awareness and recognition by transplant clinicians
that diabetes control was essential to long-term outcome.
Her lobbying for patients led to additional insurance coverage
for treatments of patients in certain circumstances. To many
families and the nursing profession itself, Sharon Kelly is
a champion.
26
Alberta RN Summer 2014 Volume 70 No 2
www.nurses.ab.ca
Trudie Lee PHOTOGRAPHY