Even from an early age, Wendy Derendorf always knew what she wanted to do for a living, “I never entertained any other career, I always wanted to be a nurse”.
After graduating from Confederation College’s Thunder Bay campus in the first ever graduating class of RN students in 1975, Wendy chose to start her nursing career at La Verendrye hospital in an all-male medical/surgical unit.
However by 1977, she had decided to join a few friends from school and begin nursing in Los Angeles, California.
“Recruiters had come in to Thunder Bay, and a friend went and it sounded good so we decided to do it.”
Through Wendy’s time in LA, she had a chance to learn from a variety of senior medical professionals in three different hospitals.
Despite the changing scenery she always felt welcome, “They really valued Canadian nurses. They were always happy to have us.”
After four years in the Californian sun it was time to move back a little closer to home and re-group for future endeavours.
However as we have all learned at some point, sometimes life has a different plan in store for us. This was certainly the case upon her return home in January of 1982.
Wendy laughed about how her “Initial plan was to be here for a year, to pay off some bills and make some money, and 39 years later I retired”. Through her 23 year career of full time nursing at La Verendrye she has had the opportunity to work on multiple different units, experiencing the whole circle of life, from newborns to palliative care.
With a growing family it was time for a change in career style, from 12-hour shift work to a more 9 to 5 style job.
Upon applying for a new job Wendy would have to do something most of us do in our teens, she needed to have a face to face job interview.
“I had never had a face to face job interview in my entire nursing career, and I don’t think I did very well,” Wendy now laughs about.
After her 29 years of nursing, Wendy started with the Community Care Access Center as a case manager to help members of the community find needed at home care. However, after 5 years, nursing began to call Wendy back again as the position of staff health nurse opened up, where she assisted in occupational safety and infection control throughout Riverside Health Care.
Despite a very busy career, Wendy has been able to find the time to be an involved member of the community, following in her parents’ footsteps. She spends her spare time assisting various committees and teams in Knox United Church, the Legion and even assisting to train new health care workers through Confederation College locally.
After a lifetime of hard work, as of April 30th Wendy has begun retirement. With the title of retiree so fresh, she hasn’t decided how exactly she is going to spend her time yet.
But she has considered continuing part time in palliative care as she has found that to be the most rewarding time in nursing, as she was able to help “Someone pass away with the dignity they deserve where they want to be.”
