Leading with Humility: Crystal Conrad Makes Waves  

When Crystal Conrad received a phone call telling her she would receive Nova Scotia Health’s Making Waves Award of Distinction, she thought it was a joke.  

That reaction speaks volumes about Crystal. After 34 years in healthcare, including 20 as a Public Health Nurse (PHN) in Western Zone, she has built her career around teamwork, humility and service.  

Working in the health protection division of Public Health, Crystal supports individuals and communities affected by communicable diseases, alongside colleagues she deeply values — and she’s quick to credit them for her success.  

“I am very humbled and grateful to be nominated,” she says. “I feel like I’m just one of the cogs in the big wheel of health protection. I am very fortunate to work with such a smart, dedicated team.”  

To Melissa Legge, the PHN immunization lead who nominated Crystal for the Making Waves Award, Crystal deserves more credit than she affords herself.  

“Crystal is both a mentor and dear friend who embodies what it means to be a good nurse, colleague and community member,” says Melissa. “She does her work thoroughly and thoughtfully, handles every challenge with grace and humour, and expects nothing in return. She's a true asset to her team and Nova Scotia Health as a whole.”  

A passion for health protection  

Crystal describes health protection as a space where nursing assessment skills are central, just applied differently. From communicable disease investigations and education to immunization and partner collaboration, the work is complex, evolving and engaging.  

“We're taking calls every day from healthcare providers looking for advice,” she says, citing relationships with long-term care facilities, infection prevention and control teams, and others who work together to prevent the spread of illness in healthcare facilities and communities.  

Much of this work happens quietly behind the scenes. For most of Crystal’s career, few people understood health protection’s role in keeping Nova Scotians safe and healthy. That changed in 2020, when the pandemic brought this previously unseen work into the public spotlight.  

During that time, Crystal’s focus shifted from supporting her zone to supporting the provincial response. She served as a team lead for nurses from across Nova Scotia, many of whom were new to health protection. They were joined in the effort by other Public Health team members – health promoters, dental hygienists, community home visitors and many others – who came together with a shared focus.  

“We all had a collective intention. We were all working toward the same goal of keeping the community safe.”  

Looking back, Crystal describes the experience as challenging, transformative and affirming. She says the relationships built during that time continue today and have changed how Public Health works together provincially.  

“Everyone brought their own skill set to the table. I was really proud of that experience.”  

Mentorship and passing the torch  

Crystal’s pride in collective success is at the core of who she is, as is the credit she gives to the women who helped shape her career. She names Kim Benjamin, Karen McMullin, Carolyn Power, Nadine Saunders and Kim McGill as current and former colleagues who shared their wisdom and left a lasting impression – mentorship she now pays forward to many young nurses entering Public Health.  

To them, she offers this advice:  

“Every interaction makes a difference, whether it’s in person or over the phone. Be open to change. Be flexible. Take every opportunity to build your capacity. Every experience adds to your assessment abilities.”  

Crystal’s Making Waves Award of Distinction recognizes a career built on curiosity, compassion and collaboration. Her experiences remind us we can have a lasting impact through daily acts of teamwork, mentorship and keeping clients at the centre of our work.  

She is much more than a cog in a wheel.  

Photo of Crystal Conrad.