Her hope was to be a surgical nurse upon graduation in 1975, but when Donalda MacDonald was offered a one-year nursing contract in oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

MacDonald never became a surgical nurse, but 33 years later, she is still at the Hospital, and has recently received the Centennial ‘100 in 100’ Award from the Canadian Nurses Association.

“The most important part of my job at Mount Sinai Hospital is to not only give chemotherapy to cancer patients, but provide continuous support to patients and their families,” says MacDonald, a Primary Care Nurse in the Ambulatory Oncology Clinic. “I love teaching and sharing my passion for oncology with new nurses through the Sinai Consulting Associates for Resources in Education program, to demonstrate how rewarding their career can become.”

Some of the major accomplishments MacDonald has been recognized for include being a leader on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology for four years, and co-developing a six-day program with her colleagues that she currently instructs solo, now in its seventh year, to give nurses an introduction to cancer nursing.

"Mount Sinai nurses are consistently dedicated to improving patient care and advancing specialized training, which truly demonstrates how valuable our nurses are to leading innovative and quality care,” says Leslie Vincent, Senior Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Nursing Executive at Mount Sinai.

“Helping people to live a normal life again after being sick keeps the oncology nurses going,” says MacDonald. “My career as a nurse continues to be an amazing and gratifying experience.”