YELLOWKNIFE - It's been 16 years in the making but a Yellowknife nurse has been recognized by her peers for her outstanding work.

Celine Pelletier was singled out for her work on the centennial anniversary of the Canadian Nurses Association on Feb. 1.

Celine Pelletier, seen here with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a Canadian Nurses Association meeting in Toronto Feb. 1, won an award recognizing her work promoting health and helping Stanton Territorial Hospital start up the intensive care unit at the hospital 16 years ago in February. - photo courtesy of Stanton Territorial Hospital

She called the moment an emotional time as Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave her the award in Toronto.

"I was trying so hard not to cry. It was quite humbling and I felt quite honoured," she said.

The ceremony was held at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Pelletier was recognized for setting up Stanton Territorial Hospital's first intensive care unit (ICU) 16 years ago.

She said she did a lot of things that she hadn't trained or prepared for, but said that was part of working in the North, and still is today.

"I did a lot of things outside of my scope," she said. "I think that any nurse up in the North practises beyond their scope ... I think that's the beauty of working up here."

Today Pelletier is the clinical co-ordinator of the ICU, and said she has seen it grow over the years.

"At the beginning it was staffed by nurses that I had trained myself but we improved that," she said. "We were able to send nurses on a yearly basis to obtain a critical care certificate."

Today all of the nurses are trained to national standards.

She recently received her master's degree in nursing and is an acute care practitioner.

She said her new degree and award have made nurses start to approach her more.

"It has definitely sparked an interest and some conversations."