My name is Petronella Schwarz. I live in St. Catharines, Ontario. I immigrated from The Netherlands in 1969 when I was 7 years old. I graduated from Niagara College from the PSW/Nursing programme with honours in 2008.

I am a Certified PSW with 16+ years of experience. At present, I am employed by Paramed Home Health Care. I have retired from work in LTC for about 4-5 years. I worked the night shift, I also worked for the community at the same time. The job gave me great satisfaction in helping the LTC residents. I now only do homecare at present; its very gratifying to help people of different ages. I apply my skills to meet the needs of others! My greatest achievement is that I did a Study with McMaster University. McMaster Geriatric Study of people over 70 years of age. The study consisted of the 3 ’D’s; Dementia, Delirium, and Depression. It was also published at http://clincaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01407926.

I pride myself on being a leader. I am very proud of all that I have accomplished. I am always taking courses and modules to enhance my career.