Celebrating Excellence in CF Nursing: Ena Gaudet

When Ena Gaudet walks into the CF clinic at Ottawa General Hospital, she’s often greeted not just as a nurse but as a familiar presence who has walked alongside many patients for years. After more than two decades in CF care, she has built deep relationships with the people she serves – relationships that have shaped her just as much as she has shaped them.

This year, Ena’s dedication has been recognized with Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s 2025 Taylor Nursing Award for Continuing Education, an honour established through the generosity and leadership of Louise Taylor, former CF Clinic Nurse Coordinator at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The award provides support for a Canadian CF nurse each year to attend an educational event, ensuring nurses can continue to grow in their practice and bring the best of care back to their communities.

For Ena, who has spent more than two decades in CF nursing, the heart of her work has always been the people.

“Mostly I love seeing them so regularly for so many years that I really get to know them well,” she shares. “I’ve learned more about CF from patients than from any textbooks or conferences; they have taught me so much. Knowing that no matter what I do in my job, I’m making a difference in people’s lives.”

Those relationships – and the moments when her patients find confidence, independence, and improvement in their quality of life – are what keep Ena inspired year after year.

Over time, Ena’s approach to nursing has evolved. She laughs when describing herself as “less bossy” than when she first began in CF care.

“I focus much more on patient-guided-therapy decisions,” she explains. “Everyone has their own ways of doing things, and I’m more focused on helping patients do what they are able instead of what they ‘should’ be doing. I think I’ve become more chill – hopefully my patients feel that.”

Her patients, in turn, have taught her what it means to be resilient: “They are unbelievably hard working for their disease, and they show how important it is to be productive members of society despite adversities.”

If there’s one thing Ena wishes more people understood about cystic fibrosis, it’s that appearances can be deceiving.

“If a person with CF doesn’t ‘look sick,’ it doesn’t mean they are not,” she says. “Patients know their bodies best, and healthcare providers should ask them for advice on how they should be treated.”

Looking ahead, she’s encouraged by the development of treatments for all mutations and the hope of pan-Canadian access to rare disease medications. “No one should face financial barriers to life-saving drugs,” she adds.

Ena knows the importance of balance in order to continue showing up fully for others. She finds joy and renewal in hiking, golfing, painting, exercising, and focusing on good nutrition. “These passions outside of nursing, she says, are what allow me herto bring the herbest to my herpatients,” she says.

“Receiving the Taylor Nursing Award is a special honour.

 “I’m very grateful to be given this award so that I can attend and contribute at the Calgary Canadian conference,” Ena says. “Not to mention that Louise Taylor is a rock star in the CF world to me.”

Ena’s dedication to patient-centred care and her unwavering commitment to the CF community embody the very spirit of the Taylor Nursing Award.