Already one down and seven to go…..

Streetscape

It is difficult to comprehend that even with the slow pace the time flies and I've been here over a week already - 1/8 of my rotation already behind me. I am on call tomorrow, as I am 
every other night but except for one phone call each on the weekend there has been no need for either of us nurses to work on the off hours. And I must say that I am enjoying the sunshine and relatively comfortable temperatures here versus the mountains of white stuff in the maritimes. Crazy amounts of eastern snow!

Sunday is the day for the prearranged FaceTime chat with the life partner. He suggested that 3 - 4 pm Mountain time zone was his preferred schedule and as I was settling myself, the computer chimed. He promptly hit something on his iPad mini and lost the connection but not before I realized that he wasn't at home. No snow and lots of people were the first clues. After a number of callbacks we finally were looking at each on the screen and I said "where are you?" The reply was "Boston at the Seafood Show". No indication of this during our chat Thursday evening when I'd announced my safe arrival in community and excitement with having cell coverage. He had left Friday after getting a haircut (proving that if you really want to do something you can get yourself together) driving down with a trucker and another seafood broker. The background noise was not conducive to having a rational conversation but what do you do? As I was on call, I left a message / note of where to find me and enjoyed an evening out as I was invited to supper at the home of my boss, her RCMP husband, other RCMP and wife, the teachers and wife. We supped on chili, bread the host had made and a selection of desserts we'd contributed - pies, apple crisp and meringue. Yum. Nice to visit with others who have lived in various northern communities and endorse this the 'best one' which I heartily agreed with after only a few days. 

This week has been one of working through manuals, doing online tutorials, checking cupboards, trying out new to me equipment and attempting to make myself useful. Of course the one time I think I've mastered something I either can't complete it without checking with Andrea or attempt it anyway screwing it up. Such is the lot of the new employee. I contacted WestJet to extend my ticket one more day in May so I could spend the entire weekend in Edmonton with the oldest daughter who will be attending school then. Plans are to visit the Cuban friend in the city and stay over. I was pleased to find that I could change the ticket to the same time on Sunday for only $65 and promptly did so, sending a message to the travel folks at GNWT who had purchased my ticket. On Monday I received a pointed email from the travel clerk telling me that I should've checked with my manager first before making changes due to liability issues. I responded that since I wasn't on salary by Sat/Sun (job share employees are only paid one day each way) and had covered the difference I didn't realize I had to ask. She responded that I should notify my manager of the change. I emailed the manager explaining that I hadn't realized the process and would ask in the future. She was gracious in her reply stating she didn't mind if it didn't cost or affect my working dates. Whatever. As the oldest daughter says "better to beg forgiveness versus ask permission". 

On Tuesday, which is the day the flight arrives here late (as it goes to Uluhuktuk first) there was a bit of excitement.  We finished up work and my boss and her husband headed out to

Food mail 

meet the plane and pick up their (and my) food mail order. They arrived back at almost 6 pm with three boxes of grub which set me back $188 - the northern food subsidy had saved me $150 in freight costs however. I had purchased a large box of frozen chicken breasts, pork chops and lean ground beef as well as milk, greek yogurt, veggies, cranberries (for the scones I've promised on handover to my job share partner) wholewheat bread and the only fail of the order….bananas. The very expensive organic bananas arrived with half of them squashed - I baked with the mushiest of them and crossed them off my food mail list. I carried my frozen food to the laundry room to store the meats in the freezer located there and discovered a funny smell and brown liquid all over the washer, dryer and freezer. With the NICs comment "we have trouble with the sewer sometimes here" ringing in my ears I retreated and called Terrance the DPW guy responsible for maintaing the health centre and apartments. As I headed back with my food to the kitchen the video monitor beeped and I noticed a local male who looked familiar holding something in his hands, standing in the front entryway. I pushed all the buttons on the intercom (remembering the instructions in the orientation manual) while yelling "hello hello" loudly into the machine. The guy looked hopefully into the camera a few times and then gazed towards the door so I sprinted down the stairs only to find an empty front entryway. I looked around and finding no evidence of his visit, assumed (incorrectly I found out later) that he was perhaps selling crafts or country food and checked the orientation binder again - yep, it said to push the button (didn't specify which one) to talk. Sigh. I returned to my food storage. I sent a text to my boss with a photo of the video monitor asking "what button do I press to talk?" and received no answer. She received the text about 24 hrs. later for some reason. Terrance arrived, pronounced a glycol leak in the pipe in the laundry room, stated he would clean it up (his version of this was to put some pads down and close the door) and would return in the morning to fix it. I made supper, attended to email and assumed the fellow in the lobby would return if he had a health problem. I finally went to bed. 

In the morning I questioned the NIC about which button to push on the intercom and she said….wait for it….."you pick up the receiver". I hadn't even noticed there was one in my focus on buttons. Then she said "that must've been Fred from COOP with an air freight delivery - did he leave anything?" I assured her I'd looked and hadn't seen anything. Of course she quickly found a small box from the pharmacy on the shelf around the corner. After this (likely feeling she was dealing with a real winner) she went out to the front entryway and insisted I go into the emerg room to answer the video monitor there ensuring that I actually knew how to lift the phone receiver and talk to her. I discreetly checked out the box and was thrilled to find that it contained no narcotics or perishables which should've been refrigerated. Only a ventolin inhaler and a B/P med. Whew! When Fred came to the health centre the next day (and the light went on as I realized he had been the one to chauffeur me from the airport to the health centre upon my arrival) I questioned if he'd heard me yelling "hello" from my apartment he said "I wondered why you didn't answer" I didn't bother to go into that button thing. This learning one mistake at a time is the part of being the 'new kid on the block' which I like the least, and the reason for wanting to settle in one community. 

Wednesday night I decided I would be domestic so after making supper I cooked up a pot of ham and pea soup and a batch of banana oatmeal muffins. I left a muffin for our newly hired janitor in the kitchen but….he didn't show up for work on Thursday. Not a good start as it was only day two of his employment. When he arrived in the afternoon he pronounced them delicious. Since he only works four hours/day it was decided that 1 - 5 pm might be a more suitable schedule for someone who only went to bed at 4 am. He worked diligently while there and had to be reminded to go home after 5 pm as he was attempting to make up for his tardiness. We did hear him exclaim "oh ewww" when he was emptying garbage, so hope he's up for the task. Thursday had began with the usual routine, then the clerk/homecare

Kamiks in progress

worker and I headed out to do home visits. There are two elders who have 'friendly visits' so I dropped in to introduce myself. Neither of them require an interpreter but clearly English was not their first language. I discovered the lady sewing some beaded fronts for kamiks - she does lovely work. She told me that she was "born in an iglu out on the ice" when we discussed her early years. The next stop saw me looking at hunting photos on the wall of a much younger man with a polar bear and a muskox as he said "back then when I could". The schedule included a bit of a flurry in the afternoon where I learned how to manage the consults to counselling, the physician on call, and a schedvac over to Inuvik with the attendant travel paperwork as well as deal with the X-ray machine and PACS system. Four patients by the end of the day - the highest totals I have seen in the logbook are seven (these include admin work, phone calls, consultations etc). 

Friday in celebration of nutrition month the plan was to host a 'Swap Your Lunch' event at the health centre. The clerk cooked up a storm and I assisted her by running the biscuits (sweet potato were good as expected - lentil biscuits were an epic fail) upstairs to my oven to bake and by washing a few dishes. We had a small grant for food and she put on quite a spread.

 Inualthuyak School 

Nice to meet some local people I hadn't encountered and some really cute kids came along. the school is next door to the health centre and the 'bus' usually takes them home at lunch. In between I attended to various nursing duties and administrative duties which is what Friday afternoons are scheduled for. Spent the final hour inventorying and ordering for the stock drugs in pharmacy - not a wonderful task but a great opportunity to see what is where - to hopefully make it easier when looking for something. The Nurse in Charge (NIC) and her husband are heading out on Monday to BC and then onwards to an Australian/French Polynesia cruise. Ahhh. A replacement from another health centre is flying in to keep me in line. Oh and I learned that the Aklak Air pilot is actually the 

Parka required

small guy with Pete crocheted on his flap hat and the big guy with the grey goatee who does all the talking is Peter the copilot. The clerk told me that they are known as Pete and Repete. As you can see according to instructions I shall have to drag my parka if I wish to travel back next October with them. Yvonne told me that her husband had called on his cell to advise they'd gotten nine muskox hunting today so she said "I guess I know what I'll be doing with my weekend - making dried meat". In answer to my question of their size she told me that "muskox are big" but when I suggested I might come see them as I hadn't seen one before, it occurred to me that they would likely be chopped up and she confirmed this. No need to travel to see a mound of meat. 

A quiet evening here where I downloaded the Best in Travel Lonely Planet guide for 2015, online shopped, FB chatted with my job share partner and sorted emails. Gotta get rested up for call tomorrow. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha