Sending northern greetings to you on this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon where it is 1c. I'm making plans to head out for a walk with a hoodie not my winter jacket, so that should tell you how balmy it is.
The week in my rear view mirror has not been without its bureaucratic challenges. You know the 3 rules for dealing with a bureaucracy?
1. take names
2. keep notes
3. trust no one
As cynical as this may appear...it is sound advice. And I would like to add....be persistent! I do like to volunteer - it makes me feel good and that I'm contributing to the universe...however, I wish to decide how, when and where I choose to provide my time. Meaning...I did not come north to volunteer my services. On Thursday I received a call from a lovely lady (originally from the great northern peninsula she admitted when I questioned her accent telling me "I've been here 24 years, you can take the girl out of Newfoundland but not Newfoundland out of the girl") who works in payroll in Yellowknife. She had noticed that although my pay was entered and approved correctly, the dispersal was noted not as payroll deposit, but issue cheque which meant a cheque would be mailed to Nova Scotia - taking at least two weeks and clearly I'm not there. It took a couple of tries with her assistance (she and I both had different screens of the program) to change the online instructions. She informed me this is required each time a casual employee returns to our employer as the default is 'issue cheque'. Good to know. And nice of her to look after me. I thanked her and she closed by saying that my pay would be deposited on Friday now.
Friday morning my coworker was complaining that her deposited pay wasn't correct. Upon investigation I discovered that my pay was AWOL. I phoned Yellowknife to try to track down my guardian angel of the day before only to be told that she was away and that I should contact the HR Helpdesk (I'm pretty sure I've noted previously that Helpdesks are notoriously misnamed as they provide limited to no assistance, but it bears repeating). I phoned the number to listen to a recording which suggested an email would receive faster service - clearly they love personal interaction with the employees they serve! I sent a 'pay not deposited' subject line with an email message that read...I was advised my pay would be deposited today, it wasn't.....and signed my name and employee #. I clearly wanted to write in capitals, but we all know that shouting at bureaucrats is NOT recommended. About an hour later I received the following reply from HR.....As you entered your banking information after cutoff for
direct deposit, we had issued a cheque. It will be deposited to your RBC bank
account today. Going forward, your pays will be automatically deposited to the
bank account. And upon online investigation, this was the case.
Although I'd asked my helpful Newfoundland friend if she could assist me with my vacation payout, she sadly advised she could not and I'd have to contact HR. When I told her I'd received an anonymous HR apology but it didn't look as if the payout was on my June 1st pay she said "oh my". Yes indeed. I was informed by my colleague (who I am replacing here) that she'd been contacted by someone wanting her to approve some time for me and she advised that she didn't have authority as out of community. When I said "the space manager approved my time entry, what were they asking you for?" She replied that she thought it was vacation. The question arises...why would vacation time have to be approved? It's clearly noted on the pay stub of September 2017 as waiting for me and there is that great anonymous apology of last week saying that it was going to be on my June 1st pay....anonymous lied. Apparently, it's better if you really don't need the money when you work here! Apologies for sounding mercenary but interfering with a nurses compensation for services is not recommended.
I've been contemplating for a while that I should do contracts in the Baffin region which would enable me to fly through Ottawa and visit daughter #1 there to and fro. And hopefully the son-in-law by next year. The immigration application is going in this month and our bureaucratic Canadian system is approving cases with a one year timeline for decisions. Yes, you did read that correctly - one year, in addition to the one just completed which it took to gather the documents. Not a thing which can be done about it though. The first week here I'd applied through the Government of Nunavut webpage to do some casual TB nurse contracts. These are a better option than CHN, which are lucrative but exhausting as communities have many social issues. Last week I followed up by resending the cover letter and resume to the email listed. Still no response. So, this week I contacted two former coworkers, now with GN. One provided contact info for the territorial nurse recruiters with the suggestion I mention she'd referred me, and the other informed me that the second recruiter is no longer in the position. Gotta have connections and patience...these northern recruiting wheels (despite an extreme staff shortage) move very slowly, so starting now for an October target date is a sensible plan. There was the last minute travel in arrangements, this community is now completely booked with casuals until end of December, meaning even my coworker who lives here won't be able to work here but will have to travel out - she'll be paid to travel to Inuvik and other nurses from across Canada (some at great expense, for example, it costs my employer about $6000 return every trip I make) will be paid travel in and out. So not even an option for me to pick up a few more weeks. And.. the pay snafu? That was the 'final straw' so to speak. Now, I'm getting serious about Plan B, I have the qualifications (infection control, northern experience etc) I just have to get the recruiters attention, start and continue to prod the HR process. I've downloaded the 300 page TB manual and various articles as research on the endemic tuberculosis situation in the eastern arctic. Stay tuned.
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| a sandhill crane meeting? |
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| noisy critters they are |
Got out in the vehicle Thursday evening for a drive to the dump...was fearful of going further and being stuck as the road is soft where the snow is melting and I was on call. I texted some photos to the shore captain which surely made him jealous as the snow geese have finally arrived. Although over two weeks later than usual they are in huge flocks. With the windows open you can hear them honking as they fly so low overhead. There were also sandhill cranes, Canada geese, hawk, raven, seagulls and snow buntings. Lots of the white stuff still around as you can see.
Monday morning as we began our work week, my coworker and I heard voices down the corridor. Assuming it was someone who had come in the front door of the health center we walked to the lobby...nope, we continued on down the hall and finally ascertained the voices were coming from the telehealth room. We were signed in to a session from the regional headquarters entitled Customer Service. There was discussion as apparently the neighbouring community was the one signed up for the course and we were the ones connected....not sure how we are confused as the names are completely different but it's a common occurrence with referrals, test results, mail etc. When asked who we were we identified and admitted to 'checking out the voices' which we all agreed was a good thing to do, we waved goodbye and exited. This telehealth session continued daily for the entire week and we were never signed out...we closed the door to the room. I was unable to access the Hypertension in Pregnancy session from Yellowknife at noon on Friday as we were already signed in to the empty classroom as Customer Service was on lunch break. Since I'd brought my lunch downstairs to eat....I online shopped (one of the major hazards of a northern payday) for my grandkids.
Yesterday I downloaded 19 online books to the Kobo app on my phone...stocking up while I have time to browse. I made a big casserole of mac n cheese and used white cheddar rice cakes for the cracker topping - working with what you have is a northern adaptation. Planning to bake some cranberry squares - other than sauce what else can you use compressed cranberries (one of the casualties of the travel in) for? I've taken to giving away most of the products I've baked to my very small millenial coworker and her partner (gym, fat bike and running enthusiasts that they are) in a rather passive aggressive nod to their svelte physiques....it will catch up with them, and freezing the remainder for my returning colleague. Also have some hamburger soup on the go.
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| strawberry cupcake |
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| eggplant of course |
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| chocolate chip or oreo? |
I've been working away on the grandchildren's play food collection and it is outgrowing its mandarin orange box so I will have to up-size the container. And yes, in anticipation of the question....will they know what an eggplant is? Their Grawmp is growing some in his green house and says the plants are 16 inches tall (who measures plants anyway except an old retired guy?) But apparently spring has come to the east coast, well at least in the greenhouse. I saw a frost warning for the entire province of Nova Scotia for tonight, so not completely safe to leave outside crops unattended in the cold snap.
As the work day is long with the spring season and a limited number in the community - an estimate on the weekend of perhaps 25 souls here (I've fed a larger group than that supper) I began a Future Learn online course through University of Twente (Dutch) called.... eHealth, Combining Psychology, Technology and Health which I'd indicated on my continuous learning plan as completed when I was audited by the RN association...no need in really pushing the barriers and getting called on not having done it. Do you know what domotics are? I do now....Domotics or
ambient technologies are also a form of eHealth that integrate technology and
services into a home environment in order to improve the inhabitants’ quality
of living and of life. My friend from the Maritimes says that is the beauty of the heat pump which goes from heater to air conditioner to accommodate the weather home. In the case of the health centre apartments that would be the heating system being adjusted to the summer temperature. The boilers are never shut down, it doesn't get THAT warm here, but the thermostat is set back. It was so tropical last night I slept with the window open and fan on. The original maintenance guy is AWOL, the replacement went to his daughter's graduation in Inuvik, and his replacement is out on the land goose hunting...as reported by the electrician doing maintenance here over the weekend. I'm not complaining as he required access to the building both Saturday and Sunday which are callbacks for this apartment resident. Ka-ching!
Ahhh the start of the work week and no Monday morning dreads. Assembling the monthly report will be my goal for the week. Sadly the same amount of work in a tiny community or large one. The major Monday challenge will be two hours of EMR training first thing. My nerves! And the mental health worker is out this week....you know as Mark Twain said
