Gurvir is one of six winners of the Nursing Week Awards, an annual award program to recognize excellence in nursing at BC Children’s and BC Women’s.

He always asks his patients if there is anything they want to tell him that they haven’t mentioned in their care, so far. It’s a question that can get to the bottom of why some treatments may not be working for particular patients. 

“If the patient isn’t invested, then nothing is going to change,” he says. 

Gurvir works day and night in health care, including at BC Children’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency unit, the Carlile Youth Concurrent Disorder Centre at Lions Gate Hospital, and the STOP HIV/AIDS team in Vancouver. Gurvir has a natural ability to make patients and their families feel comfortable. He has a great sense of humour and he says making people laugh helps him to stay positive. 

Gurvir leads by example and believes in transformational leadership which inspires change by working with a group to find the best path forward. 

“When others see you working through something difficult, it encourages everyone to do the same,” he says. 

Gurvir would eventually like to put his skills to work in developing countries. He has his sights set on working for the United Nations to help shape policies and procedures around sexual health and gender.

In celebration of the nursing family at PHSA, poet Julia Pileggi has collected some of their stories and used them as inspiration for a spoken word performance that touches on heart-warming and heartbreaking aspects of nursing. Check out I Am Your Nurse, featuring over 60 nurses from PHSA programs and services: