Well-versed nurse finds her niche in tackling autism
Catharine Petta entered pediatric medicine after having kids of her own
Catharine Petta’s career began with an ambition to be a midwife, not a nurse, back in her native Wales.
“I think what drew me into nursing in the beginning was that I had a friend, and I was with her when she had her baby in hospital, and I thought at some point I’d like to be a midwife,” she said.
“Back home you have to do your registered nursing training to become a midwife, so that was initially what drew me.”
Since then, Petta’s work as a nurse has taken her from England to Canada, through work at her first posting here at Sunnybrook Hospital to the Casey House AIDS hospice and finally — after taking a break for a few years to start a family — to Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in East York.
It was after having her own children that Petta decided to enter the field of pediatric medicine.
“I’d done acute care and emergency and palliative care, and when I came back into nursing after having that hiatus to have kids, why not try pediatrics? I have kids, I’m interested and that’s what led me to Holland Bloorview,” she said.
She was working at the hospital’s ambulatory care unit when an opening came up in the psychopharmacology clinic.
“I don’t know whether I was specifically drawn to autism — I was just drawn to ambulatory care, and that was the clinic I ended up working in and I found my niche,” she said.
“It’s become my passion and I’ve been working 10 years in this clinic.”
Her achievements at Holland Bloorview have included a project that involved teaching bus drivers how to deal with kids with autism spectrum disorder, which began when a family she was working with approached her for help.
Already part of the Autism Treatment Network, she put together a presentation for school bus drivers and other school employees that became so successful it has been turned over to the hospital’s business director for expansion to potentially include webinars and online videos.
Petta has also helped develop a new program to help families with autistic children improve sleep, a key area in treatment.
“It’s really exciting because it’s the first of its kind for a nurse to be doing,” she said. “I just want to be part of these families’ journeys, to help them problem solve and figure out what they need, whether it’s help from me or someone else or something they can do for themselves.
“Whether it’s children recognizing how unique they are … for the rest of the community to get there as well.”