This First Person column is the experience of Nathan Friedland, a nurse in Montreal’s West Island. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

Twenty years ago, I went with two of my nursing student friends to a local clinic for our vaccinations against things like polio, mumps, tetanus and rubella.

This was not an option but a requirement — which seemed perfectly reasonable — in order to protect ourselves and our future patients in Montreal’s hospitals. I ended up needing two intramuscular injections that day and just about fainted after they were given. But I never felt