CONESTOGA COLLEGE
Practical Nursing graduate wins Entrepreneur of the Year Award for pediatric home health care business

Conestoga alumna Megan Walker won Entrepreneur of the Year in the Milton Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards.

She offers this advice to people thinking about starting a business even if, like her, they don't have a business background: "If you're passionate about something, you can make it work."

Walker is very passionate about providing quality care to children with medical complexities.

She volunteered while in high school at the Darling Home for Kids in Milton, which offers respite and residential care for medically complex children. She worked part time providing respite care to families while in Conestoga's nursing program and her first job after graduation was at the Darling Home.

Walker could see the great need in her community and beyond. Eager to help more children, she founded WeeCare in 2022. "It has been amazing ever since."

The company has grown to have an administrative team of six and almost 100 nurses and PSWs covering Ontario. Care is always tailored to the individual client, and the company is structured around that mission of providing the best nursing, personal support and respite care to children.

"When they need that medical care, they need consistency, they need someone who knows them," Walker said. "We really do try to become an extension of their family."

That's why WeeCare offers an initial meet and greet to ensure a mutual connection between family and provider. The company also provides training on how to support children with special needs, and it hosts or helps out at community events to make them more accessible. 

Launching her own business had a big learning curve, but for Walker the rewards are immense: "All the families and kids that I get to help live the life that they deserve."

Walker was tremendously proud to accept the award recognizing her entrepreneurship, and thankful for Conestoga being a step along that journey. She was accepted at other schools while being on the waitlist at Conestoga. Not wanting to enroll anywhere else, she took a semester off to start in the winter term.

For her family, Conestoga is a tradition. Her father studied woodworking at the college, her sister also was a student and her step-brother is currently in the Welding and Fabrication Technician program.

"It just worked out that way. Probably because Conestoga is the best school," Walker said.

Conestoga's Practical Nursing is career-focused program where the student will gain the knowledge, skills and experience required to become a member of the nursing profession and health-care team. The foundational knowledge for practical nursing is based on scientific theory from nursing, the physical and psychosocial sciences and humanities. Person-centred care is learned in context through real-life experiences and career-related work-integrated learning experiences. Senior care is given special attention to meet the needs of an aging population.