Although I had the best of intentions to update this blog as my six week contract went along…it was not to be. I managed to publish the original update through the network at work before the Access Denied warning barred me from further attempts. This blockage extends to all personal email and most video clips. Reasons given by IT include fear of infecting the network and restricted bandwidth. I’m sure they just don’t want us to have any fun online. So, although I roughed out this update, it’s being posted in Iqaluit as I await my afternoon flight to Ottawa and I promise another post from home with photos of Clyde River.
To pick up from my awaiting the Dr roommate visit it turns out that she was born two years after my youngest child, having just graduated as a physician in May. A Chinese immigrant she ate noodles, was very sensible, thorough and hard working, putting in long hours and dealing with all sorts of complex referrals. She works in the ER at Qikitani General Hospital in Iqaluit in between doing community visits and I considered her an ‘old soul’ for her age. She’ll be returning just after I leave so I’m sorry to miss her next time. It made for a busy health centre to have first Dr clinic, followed by a general surgeon removing lumps and bumps, the dental team, eye glass fitting, and psychiatrist with psych resident in all in the same week. This week it was the OT in from Iqaluit and some fussy old dude who wore his pants hitched up under his armpits doing an update for the clerks/caretaker who take x-rays here. As I attempted to make small talk (thinking he might know the DI tech in Cambridge Bay) I asked “have you been to Kitikmeot?” and he replied “no, I’m just over at the hotel”. Who said those techs don’t have a sense of humour eh? It’s the eye team taking a turn as I make my exit.
This past month has been one of multiple medevacs for the CHNs with various accidents and illnesses. The entire community of kids is sick with colds (thankfully no RSV or influenza here yet) and various rashes. I’m pleased to say that I managed to catch up the entire well child list to current dates during my stay, started the Synagis immunization (for high risk infants such as premies to protect against RSV) organized the Gardasil list for 9yr olds, caught the (very long) depot injection list up, tracked down the STI positives including one who was still drunk at 3 pm and named the wrong brother for contact - the non cheater was pretty confused when I called him in. I’ve managed to get a handle on the TB program - at least what ‘should’ be done and when - bloodwork, chest X-rays, weights, contact tracing, record keeping. Making it happen is another matter. Time to go home when I’m annoyed with chasing TB patients who don’t take any self responsibility for their meds, yet are given snacks and drinks (one has to have Gatorade) of their choice with the meds administered, and $150 gift cards for the Northern store at completion of their treatment, those who drink a juicebox of tropical punch (photo of fruits on the side) and then with tingling lips tell me of the allergy to kiwi and banana so I can do vitals, give benadryl and ask them to stay but…they leave as they haven’t been to bed all night and go home to sleep, people who don’t get up in the morning to keep their appointments for mantoux tests and just drop in to the clinic late in the afternoon, those who are frantic to have a mantoux so they can go to work for Baffinland but…don’t return in 48 hrs to have it read. I want to eat fruits and veggies for three meals/day and not take five minutes to dress to go outside. Am thinking perhaps that six weeks is getting to be a bit longer than I desire (8wks + didn’t used to be a problem) as I wasn’t minding winter etc the first month. Still ongoing projects (Spanish studies) but once I’ve finished up my crochet projects it’s time to go….
And so… I’m going to be the HCN (homecare nurse) in Pond Inlet on a casual contract May 17 for four weeks - spring in the north, on the floe edge, near Bylot Island. Ahhhh. You’ll have to Google it if not familiar with the name/location. It’s a good sized community (pop.1800) on the eastern edge of the NW Passage about a 45 minute flight above here. It’s the same latitude N as Sachs Harbour but the other edge of Canada. It has the usual northern demographics of 600 kids under age 14 and perhaps 150 over age 60 in the 2016 census, so a busy spot for CHNs vs HCNs. My buddy says the CHNs are all young and it’s a busy spot but again…it would be with lots of kids. I’ve enjoyed homecare in NS, as I like the patient being in their own environment and control, so looking forward to it.
A previous weekend I was dealing with a husband who has never had to ready the house, pets and pack materials etc for Cuba by himself. I’d like to think he was missing me as I’ve made it look easy, but the only way to describe his behaviour was…snarly. If he’d said “I have no idea” one more time in that tone in answer to various routine questions, his safety would only have been guaranteed by the distance between us. At one point in the first phone call he was asking me to name various articles I’d picked up in my Christmas shopping, to pack. I finally remembered that he’d thrown the bags out of the closet as I made him put the holiday decor away - I undecorated the house/tree on New Years day as I packed for north, so they wouldn’t be waiting for me in Feb. Then it occurred to me that at 9pm he was likely in bed but not walking the four steps to the (never used) treadmill to look at the bags piled there. When I called him on it, he corrected me to that it was 9:20pm.and directed me to call at 6pm the following evening. Not behaviour that encourages one to buy a ticket to join someone acting like that! I followed up with various texts about the house cleaner, taking enough cash out of the bank to exchange, cat care etc. Pretty clear who has always handled the pre-travel arrangements in our house and you can see why.
He traveled early to the city and sent photos of himself with the grandkids in an effort to make me jealous - it worked. The following day I texted to see how his travel was going and received an update about bad weather in Halifax, taking the second flight up to Toronto with the first cancelled, circling Pearson for 15 minutes waiting for runways to be cleared and finally waiting for deicing in the freezing rain with the update that he’d ‘forgotten’ to go the bank to get money, took cash from the console of the truck, would try his credit card in Cuba and let me know how he made out. Clearly NO memory of my credit card debacle of November! He arrived, was met at the airport by the Cuban son-in-law and off to his casa. At present, he and the son in law have travelled by bus from Santiago de Cuba to Havana for the immigration medical (whohoo getting closer all the time) which according to FB photos is an adventure all around. Thankfully the son in law is doing really well with his English and isn’t deaf…just sayin. On Friday pm I received a somewhat clear email from the shore captain stating that the Cayo was booked the first week of March with only room for the kids/grandkids but he’d found a casa for us in Chivirico. He’s now making arrangements on the ground in Cuba, including a trip for us to Baracoa which is northeast of Guantanamo after the kids leave.
I have managed to book my flights (including matching my travel partner’s on the return) a room (with the help of my daughter/son in law) in Holguin and booked my bus ticket from Holguin to Santiago de Cuba, arranged with my prof for a week of Spanish lessons and my room in Santiago de Cuba. After that I’m at the mercy of the guy who doesn’t plan…plans. It is nice to be thinking of warmer climes, especially in the -42c weeks we’ve just had. It is February in Nunavut so completely expected of course, and although the sun returned for a few more hours per day, it’s still frosty.
I joined the Clyde River Swap n Sell (originally to locate a pair of mittens for a nurse from NS who had asked me to find a pair) but have continued my membership for pure entertainment value and local info. For example…posted for sale…cups of grapes/crisco - perhaps a newer version of a traditional treat of berries mixed with caribou fat and no I can’t pronounce the local name for it. I did get a pair of mittens as requested by asking a patient who was selling ookpiks (small owls made of sealskin) if she would make some. She arrived last week with a lovely pair of black leather mitts with purple fox fur trim which I purchased as the personal shopper.
Friday (after unsuccessfully looking for a patient to give TB meds to) I dropped a coworker at the Northern store and so picked up some (overpriced, bruised) fruit to last me until Wednesday and a box of ice cream sandwiches to leave as a treat for the health centre staff when I head out. There was a little fellow (looked to be about the age of my oldest grandson) ahead of me at the register with a 50% off container of double bubble gum balls. He tried to pay the teenaged cashier with a handful of coins which she counted and then picked up the gumballs and said in Inuktuit - the equivalent of…you don’t have enough money…his face fell. I said “I’ll pay for it, put it on my order” . I suspect this isn’t a common occurrence as she repeated in English “you’re going to pay for it?” and when I said “yes” she handed the little guy the gum. I don’t think he was completely clear on what had transpired and was concerned the offer might be rescinded as he quickly scooped up the container and made a hasty exit with a confused look on his face. Now, the last thing any northern kid needs is more sugar and I hope I haven’t contributed to him being one of the dental patients sent out for extractions but…I just kept thinking how heartbroken my grandson would be if this had happened to him. Who knows? Maybe his grandfather was one of the crowd of locals who came to push the health centre vehicle out of the snow when I got it stuck in last weekend in front of the apartment in a near blizzard - a very warm, giving community here. That said, it didn’t stop me from celebrating my last Friday, last Saturday, last Sunday (you get my drift - pun intended) here.
Had attempted to get a visit in to the Cultural School to have a peek at the library but when I finally got an answer today, one of the the local cooking students advised….sorry, it’s just me and Susie in the kitchen…and when I questioned the whereabouts of the boss, I was told that he’d gone to Iqaluit for a visit. Oh well…
My replacement arrived unexpectedly on Sunday. When my roommate went to the airport to pick up a returning CHN she found her there. Bilyana is a TB nurse from Ottawa (living in Gatineau) who does short contracts in Nunavut. She’s originally from Germany/Bosnia, has great tattoos and is involved with several heavy metal bands in Montreal. She is a very experienced TB nurse (used to working in communities with 40 - 100 patients having DOT meds vs 5) so I was relieved to find she’d get the files in order for anyone coming after me and she was relieved to find that I was comfortable with ALL the other public health tasks of the job which make up the majority of the job - we’d both been told it was a TB nurse contract….HR lies. She’d never done well child immunizations, drivers medicals, STI tracking, depot injections or general medical blood draws. So we had a whirlwind three days where I tried to wrap things up and make sure she got to do the major tasks at least once. It was nice to have two of us doing the workload so I could wrap up details and she could find her way.
The final rush to eat up/donate my food, clean the apartment, wash the linens and pack filled the
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| awaiting the flight |
The weather ‘south’ has been awful with a major snowstorm dumping 40+cm of the white stuff on Ottawa and awful driving in Nova Scotia, so I’m glad to be travelling behind not through those situations. Surely looking forward to seeing the oldest daughter on my commute, although the weather in Ottawa hasn’t been any warmer than here. We have plans for a meal and a Michaels shop - some thick yarn to make a first winter cozy throw for the new Canadian son in law.
