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Yukei Ng, a student at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, has won the 2021 Sopman Humanitarian Award, presented by the University Health Network.

The Sopman Humanitarian Fund seeks to encourage humanity, compassion, understanding and the ability to communicate among nurses and doctors in training at UHN. The honour recognizes Ng’s support and compassion while providing patient care as a student nurse, alongside her excellence in academics.

“I feel like this is what I was meant to do,” says Ng. “Winning this award means a lot and will always serve as encouragement for me to do the best that I can and to be as competent and compassionate as I can be.”

During one of her placements, Ng noticed a Spanish-speaking patient was withdrawn and seemed lonely. Unable to speak Spanish herself, Ng decided to use Google translate to communicate with the patient.

“It turns out the patient was feeling really lonely and unsure about their health,” says Ng. “Their family was worried, but the patient could not properly explain to them the type of procedure he was going to have.”

With approval from her preceptor, Ng found a Spanish language document online that helped to explain the procedure to the patient and his family.

“He was very appreciative, and all it took was a little bit of effort on my part to help him feel more secure,” says Ng.