Are you in Cambridge Bay? I sure am!

It took me the weekend to get here but yep, I am in Cambridge Bay. Had a little birthday get together on Friday and enjoyed the company of some good friends and the junior captain and his girlfriend. The younger couple was a real score as she is very shy and he is socially challenged with mature guests so it was nice to spend the evening with them all. Of course I was too keyed up to sleep so I tossed and turned for a couple of hours and then gave up, said goodbyes to the kitty boys (who ignored me) and the dog (who was all confused as I woke her up to do so) and was off to the city. Woke up the teacher daughter and she drove me out to the airport. Had a good nap to Toronto and then again to Edmonton. Lots of tradespeople making their way out west for the first time (excitedly) or one of many trips (a bit more reluctantly) over the past few decades.

Was met by the western daughter and we headed off for our day of adventure. Began with a trip to the Old Strathcona Farmers Market, then had a wonderful lunch at a Persian restaurant, off to Canadian Tire to purchase an Action Packer and then to Walmart to buy groceries to put in it. By the time all those errands were run we had a late supper at the Royal Executive Inn and crashed for the night. An early morning and a short jaunt over to the airport. It was sure great to have the help of a very strong woman as well as celebrating our mutual birthdays.

A check in at the airport with my luggage and oversize container - found a teacher who was heading in to Cam Bay for the first time as well and then a slight delay as we waited for First Air which thankfully didn't result in missing the connection at Yellowknife, as my newly acquired travel mate and I were hearing the boarding announcement while walking into the terminal. Directed through a small room which contained both Canadian North and First Air desks and then out onto the tarmac towards a turboprop. It was a 20 seat plane with lots of cargo up front. "Oh, I thought there'd be a larger plane" my travel mate says while I'm thinking to myself  'actually this is pretty good considering what I was expecting'. We settle in and the (only) flight attendant serves us the second breakfast of our day, offers us all a bottle of water and a newspaper, then retires to the last seat to read the paper, check her photos on her phone and generally have a lengthy break. After leaving the trees we fly over vast areas of tundra and lakes then open seas and shoreline before heading down to Cambridge Bay. New experience to land on a dirt airstrip in front of a very tiny airport.

At the terminal (with a muskox statue or stuffed I wasn't sure) in the window, I was met by the Nurse in Charge. My luggage all arrived on the belt and we headed into 'town' in the mud encrusted Health Center SUV past boats in the harbour, 4wheelers on the mucky streets and typical northern buildings. Very nice apartment which I have to myself for a couple of days before another transient arrives, nurses apartments are next to the Health Center so most staff go across for lunch. Got my stuff unpacked, headed over to the Coop for perishable supplies, made a batch of biscuits, fixed myself some supper and called it a day. Figure the place is pretty well set up if the only thing I put on my list as missing is a pastry blender.

In to the Health Center this am and it is a lovely new facility, well set up and provisioned, staffed with very friendly, experienced nurses - most of them from Newfoundland - they run Nunavut. It was a busy day here, working short, overbooked, lots of walk ins and a medevac - reminded me of my previous life. My head is about to explode of course. VERY different way of nursing - I am used to immunizations, and have done SOAP (subjective, objective, action, plan) nursing notes, and the charts will be ok when I get used to them but thinking about prescribing (and dispensing) drugs, ordering routine and emergent labs and xrays (Meditech has followed me here in a new and more unwieldy form arrghh) consulting physicians and specialists, doing on call and most of all finding things has made me feel very lost (of course) as I don't even know what I don't know yet. I am about to wrap this up to study one of the many 'manuals' so I at least will know what questions to ask to begin with. My nurse mentor is kind considering they are really short this week. They have 3 F/T nurses and casuals who float through to fill the other spaces as there should be 5 nurses here. Have a Dr, lab and DI, midwives, ultrasound comes in, consultant clinics -  Booked patients in the morning to a max of five each, afternoon clinics such as Well Child and lots of teamwork. Extensive social problems, substance abuse and mental health issues as well as a very young population so lots of babies and children, very young mothers, a challenge with the local accent and names and more. My goal is to survive the experience and hopefully not screw up too badly.

I have been making attempts to connect to the internet and although I walked over in the snow (yes it snowed for a few hours here this afternoon) to Polarnet and gave them $215 of my money it was to no avail as my MacBook Air doesn't have a port for an ethernet cable. Doesn't pay to try to be too sophisticated in the north it seems. I will know for next time (if I survive remember :) ? And for those looking for me on FaceBook, now you know....the rest of the story. So, I am heading back over to the nurses residence to crack those books. Will post as the week goes on. Is it only Monday?