Hair - where?

Here is the photographic proof of the hair challenged baby daughter. Actually the new 'do' is very chic and makes her look older than her actual years. Apparently the festivities went well by the looks and the before and after pics both show smiles. What a great thing to do for a wonderful cause. And you have to have something to do in the land of the snow as word has it the snow piles are still over the top of the BBQs on the decks in Freddy.

We got a few more flurries here last night but as I was wrapping up the first aid class the trailers were being loaded with skidoos and heading for Upper Clyde where apparently there is still good snow pack.

A faithful blog reader advised that "your references to the shore captain always remind me of Garrison Kellers reference to “the current occupant” ie George Bush" and of course that is very apt. With the shenanigans of late 'current' is always a good term.

Off to the district facility tomorrow to welcome back the colleagues to the funny farm and of course run all my errands after work. Isn't that what it's all about?

Is this any way to spend a weekend?

I have had a busy day what with teaching first aid in the local fire hall and all. It was a glorious spring day, in between absolute white out conditions, what weird weather. By the afternoon the sun was out and it was tough to go back after lunch. I managed to have 15 students by the time they were all gathered up this morning, which are only 3 off of a full roster. As the shore captain suggested, you really have to have a list of at least 20 to make sure you get a full crew. Self-employed fishermen are a tough bunch to round up much like herding cats. This despite regulations, which require them to all, have marine first aid to keep their certification current. Tomorrow we will start a bit later as there is a Fireman’s breakfast in the adjacent hall the last Sunday of the month so this will allow for a well-fed group. Most of these guys have taken first aid a few times and many volunteer with the fire department so an easy bunch to deal with overall. Good to know they’ll be able to deal with medical calls as well as rescue me should I require it.

This afternoon’s news included a call from daughter # 2 saying that she and her partner had found a great apartment in the city and were filling out a rental application - they were pumped. I had a chat with daughter # 1 about her sorting stuff and moving plans and a brief visit from the prodigal son as he accessed the public shower we run here. But no news or photos of the head shaving have appeared as yet.

Speaking of the nursing student there was a good article in the Chronicle today about the provincial nursing shortage where 500 RNs will be required by 2010 so obviously a graduate’s market:

Website aims to attract RNsJanuary report projected nursing shortage of 500 by 2010By JOHN GILLIS Health ReporterSat. Mar 29 - 6:04 AM
A review of Nova Scotia's health-care system released in January said the province would have a shortage of 500 registered nurses by 2010. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / CP)

Nova Scotia needs nurses and won’t be able to produce enough in the province to meet growing demand and fill the spots of retirees.
The province is reaching out to nurses across Canada and around the world with a new website that provides information in 13 languages about what they need to know to work in Nova Scotia.
The site, www.atlanticcanadahealthcare.com, went online in January with promotional videos on living and working in the region.
Languages offered include English, French, Mandarin, German, Dutch, Arabic, Tagalog, Russian, Spanish, Hungarian, Persian, Japanese and Poshtu.
The site expands on a successful one created by the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia, said Sara Telfer, professional conduct review co-ordinator with the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Nova Scotia.
Those two organizations and their counterparts in the other Atlantic provinces developed the site with $70,000 in funding from Health Canada.
A review of the provincial health-care system released in January said the province would have a shortage of 500 registered nurses by 2010.
The province needs to hire 175 to 225 licensed practical nurses and 150 to 200 registered nurses to staff the more than 1,000 new long-term-care beds it plans to open by 2010.
Ms. Telfer said some foreign-trained nurses who are already working in Nova Scotia or completing the licensing process have given the site a good review.
"They all thought it was fantastic and wished that they had the same type of an informational tool prior to coming," she said. "They knew that they wanted to come here and (heard) what a great area of Canada this is to live in. But there are so many different avenues to go get the information they needed that it was hard to make sure they had it all."
Taras Matveev, a licensed practical nurse who emigrated from Russia and now lives in Halifax said it can be stressful moving to a new country.
"Having access to information in your own language simplifies the process and enhances understanding," he said in a news release. "Hearing and seeing someone from your own country is reassuring and encouraging."
The colleges hope people like Mr. Matveev will pass on the link to friends or family who may be considering a move to Canada. The site also uses software to rank it prominently in search engines in various languages for international nurses looking for jobs.
Nova Scotia Nurses Union president Janet Hazelton was also impressed with the site.
She said the union often hears from nurses in other parts of Canada seeking information on working in this province.
"To direct them to this website is going to be very useful," she said.
Ms. Hazelton said it’s unfortunate that Nova Scotia faces such a shortage, and she has reservations about actively recruiting nurses from developing nations that have their own needs.
"If the nurses are coming, we need to make it as easy as we can to get re-gistered and be able to practise," she said.
Ms. Telfer said the site will expand to include information about other health professions. She said the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia is preparing material to add to the site.

The Team Leader at work was telling me on Friday that one of our Drs daughter is graduating from the BN program and has been hired by the Annapolis Valley Health Authority which sent a stretch limo to pick up the Dal students, gave them a tour, list of accommodations, sponsored them a nice lunch and generally courted them like rock stars when they were choosing their jobs.

This brings me to the Boomer news of the season that the Magnetic Hill concert, which has been rumored for the first part of August, will announce on Monday whether it will feature…The Eagles. Now for a couple that loved them since we were all young not just young at heart this is great news. Will I be hitting redial when the ticket sales open? You bet! This has spawned talk of a week’s vacation to head in that direction in a camping way. Gotta have your dreams.

I’ve just finished up my library book, which is entitled, The Travel Detective by Peter Greenberg. Some of you might recognize his name from NBCs Today Show. He has some good tips but he is pretty intense…. just reading about him is exhausting, I can’t imagine traveling or living with him. Come to think of it he doesn’t mention anyone but occasional friends so likely no one else can imagine it either.

Must go get myself together for the morning, as I’m all broke up from using unfamiliar muscles to do CPR and crawl around on a cement floor. Getting too old for that game. Now if we were talking about standing in the outdoors for hours waiting for a middle aged group of rockers that would be different.

Bald yet?

This is the weekend of the head shaving fundraiser at UNB so I am awaiting the photographs of the event. As it turns out I'm teaching first aid this weekend but (another) rotten - we can't even say winter as it's officially spring storm has dumped a load of snow, freezing rain and now rain making a slushy mess - so travel to Fredericton would've been dicey at best. If anyone wasn't tired of the white stuff before they sure are now.

I am celebrating the fact that the two team mates are back to work on Monday - yeehaw - so hopefully I'll be able to get caught up. The stomach bug making it's rounds 'appears' to be settling so the prospects look good for getting back to normal - whatever that is.

I appear to be making progress is my quest for a large suitcase as I posted a message to Buy & Sell on the district bulletin board and had an email today with the offer of a large, new one for daughter # 1. As well, along the way I've scored a charcoal grey Samsonite set and the promise of another set all in good condition which sounds to me like his and hers bags. Obviously if I'm going to be cruising the high seas I have to have decent luggage. We've gotten into the habit of traveling to Cuba with yard sale suitcases which are given to friends along with the contents of gifts and thus flying back almost baggageless. It played out last spring as a bit frumpy with all the matched luggage of the cruising set. So my arrangements for the speaking circuit are falling into place. As well while I was in the ecologically correct mood of purchasing used goods I found an ad for an office chair for the Man Cave - a real step up from the hazardous piece there now and have put my name in for his and her 21 speed bikes. So I'm a real shopping pro.

I must get my first aid course materials in order. I certainly enjoy teaching first aid but giving up my weekend off I'm not so keen on. I have a final course booked next weekend and then....that's it until next winter if there is an interested group. The dragging the bags, disinfecting the Acthar heads, ordering materials - which didn't arrive in time despite the promises, it gets old fast.

Is that pig manure?

Work was a real challenge today, isn’t that the politically correct description? The construction zone continues just outside my door and there is a weird odor of something which smells mildly like pig manure. Shortly there will be a large tarp across the end of the hall necessitating a trip outside down the emergency exit, around the building, in through the doors and upstairs again just to get to the patient wing a few feet away. The good thing is that I’ll be able to disappear through the side door and run for it if things continue as they are.

The gastro bug appears to be slowing which is a good thing as many other issues have jumped up to fill the space. There wasn’t even a space in the parking lot by 9 a.m. and in the middle of everything else during a rotten spring storm a quick ambulance trip to the nearest maternity facility meant we escaped having a delivery. The place was hopping and there was an overflow crowd waiting.

In the ER waiting room I came across a colleague from many years of nursing who had gone home from a night shift and then fallen down with two jars of pickles so was awaiting suturing of her hand. She was filling me in on the details of LPN who had died suddenly at the Manor as they are still trying to ascertain what the cause of her death was. Apparently her daughter had come home for the funeral and delivered locally (likely due to the shock of the situation) and she and her beautiful baby girl were discharged so she could attend her mother’s funeral. How very sad.

I made sure I got to the post office to mail my demo DVD off to the entertainment company. By the time I sent it quickly and insured it the price tag was almost $20 but I just kept thinking of all those perks on the cruise circuit as I hauled out my debit card. You do have to invest in your future. I had some nice photos emailed to me by one of the IT guys who breeds LRDDs (Little River Duck Dogs to the unfamiliar) today so the presentation is coming together nicely for next week.

More festivities tonight as tomorrow is the only son’s girlfriend’s birthday so we had a family supper / early celebration. I stopped on the way from work and picked up a cake and ice cream at Sobeys where I had the bakery lady write happy birthday and her name beautifully on the cake. I left it in the mudroom with the candles for dessert and sent the boy out (what was I thinking?) to put the candles on, light them and bring it in. The first indication anything was wrong started with upset groans from himself and then “no don’t come out here” in response to my query as I thought he was having trouble with the lighter. His sister headed out to find that he had in fact dropped the cake while attempting to take the cover off and it had fallen on his father’s insulated coverall suit, which had been dropped on the floor, good thing it was washed yesterday. Mister was kind of distraught as he said, “you can’t really read her name” while he piled the icing back on top and admitted to breaking four of the candles in half as he jammed them into the cake. That boy is always the entertainment no matter the occasion.

I’m off to the district facility in the a.m. as the weather forecast for tomorrow is much better than today, as I try to wrap up all the ends I can for the returning vacationers on Monday. I have a presentation to do for the local EMO tomorrow evening on pandemic planning so that will keep me out of trouble.

Eastering

Well the post holiday weekend update starts here. The weekend could be described as full if not relaxing. There were the tasks of pick up and delivery of various offspring beginning with almost midnight Thursday, then Friday afternoon, Sunday and Monday afternoon. In between there was the care and feeding of various combinations of children and guests including a family supper for 10 on Friday evening, loaning of vehicles, meals, laundry etc. with assistance from various family members. These sorts of logistics require a four-day weekend to fulfill. And yes, to settle the suspense the oven performed admirably after its Wednesday midnight installation baking a ham, chocolate cookies and two pies on Fri/Sat. There apparently was a piece of trim missing, which is being negotiated with GE for free replacement. Daughter # 1 and I finished up the weekend festivities by scrapbooking last evening as I did the cover page for my cruise album. Remembering it all over again a year later is still fun. She’s sorting through her materials as she packs for Calgary with an April 10th departure date.

On the negative side the first email of the day was from a nursing school classmate who I’d contacted about the planned get-together to catch up with the visiting classmate. She advised that one of the local classmates had surgery a few weeks ago for breast cancer (the day after her mother was buried) and was awaiting news on treatment plans. I remembered I had to drop the car at the garage when I was well past it and had to backtrack before even making it in to work and that doesn’t speak to the bill to retrieve on the return trip in the afternoon. The saga of the stomach bug continues, although I am trying to convince myself it is slowing down using the power of positive thinking. The workmen are encroaching on the hallway, stairs etc. outside my office door which has become an asbestos remediation zone. I need to go to the district facility and was hoping to do that tomorrow but…another storm is predicted so it’ll have to be Thursday. Sigh.

On the positive side I managed to snag a set of Samsonite luggage for $40 – used twice and cost over $400 new from a ‘childless by choice so disposable income colleague’ posted on the intranet bulletin board – for those days you feel like running away. My computer nerd friend who doesn’t give up fought with the DVD of my presentation and managed after an hours struggle to copy it for me. Let’s face it….great art should be preserved. I had a message from a friend saying her son had been granted a $21,000 per yr. award until he finishes his PhD – she’ll soon be able to say “my son the lawyer and my son the doctor” Can you just imagine how proud you’d be?

Not sure whether it’s negative or positive but daughter # 1 locked the keys in her car an hour away at WalMart while she was taking two teenagers to a movie. So…her father met her brother on the highway with the keys and gave him the gas card (don’t tell the secretary at the plant) to replace having to deliver them himself. It’s not as if we haven’t all done something like that – himself included.

And finally can you believe the story of the hoax the poor man in Jacksonville, Oregon suffered at the hands of a Craigslist posting? What a nightmare:

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_032408_news_craigslist_hoax.1ffb2c9c.html

First day of spring? Really?

As my horoscope reminded me, this is the first day of spring. Not that the weather would make you think that as overnight we had snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and now rain. This would've been Mom's 94th birthday if she was still with us. As the horoscope also hints this is not a fun work day for me either:

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22.): The first day of spring might not seem as encouraging as it usually does. There may be extra responsibilities on your schedule that prevent you from looking for buds on the trees. Chin up!

The day began with surveillance to try to gauge how the bug battle is going. Trust me you do not want to be working in Infection Control if there is a gastroenteritis outbreak. The only thing worse than being ICP is being a direct care nurse - been there, done that and it's exhausting!

While I was checking out charts and sick calls one of the staff updated me on a terrible situation at the nursing home next door last night. One of the 52 yr old LPNs came to work for a night shift and was giving meds when she collapsed in a resident's room. She was unable to be resuscitated. I had worked with her for a few years and she was always very good to Mom, treating her as if she were her own mother. In fact she often used to leave a message on my office voice mail if I wasn't over to visit, perhaps because I was working off site, saying "your Mom is a having a good day, very bright and we're having a cup of tea and talking about you, just wanted to let you know". She was one of those remembering others with a small gift over the holidays or if you were having a tough time. She was expecting the birth of her first grandchild within the week or two and was over the moon about that. Her poor family both by relation and her work family - must be devastated. We never know how much time we'll have do we?

One of the better things which happened to me was winning a digital tire gauge from Biomedical Engineering week. There was a survey to complete about all the team members and submit for a prize - I only knew one on the list so it sure wasn't for having the most correct answers - this made those who had 100% a little testy. I am thrilled with the prize as I think one of my tires is down.

I'm kind of fragile today anyway as I'm sleep deprived as the new wall oven was being installed by the man home from his cusk (fish) meeting at 11:30 p.m. as he picked it up in town, with me assisting him to remove and wrestle into place the new one. When I asked if he knew how to wire it in and he assured me (as he does regularly) he's got things under control, I thought....well the life insurance is paid up and this would be accidental.....However, it appears to work fine and will be good for cooking Easter dinner. When I protested the dead oven couldn't stay in the front hall as the cleaning lady was coming he said "does she have to clean everything?" The obvious answer to that is "hopefully" so we wrestled the defunct oven (which he didn't want to put out in the rain - not sure why or what he hopes to salvage from it as it's dead as a nit) with him with a knot in his face, onto the spare bed temporarily. He was really pushing it to even protest this morning, I was in too much of a hurry to deal with him.

When I was reading the Chronicle Herald online (as I didn't stop in the monsoon to pick up the paper copy out of the box this morning) as I can do with the high speed here at work (during my lunch break at 1:30 with the door locked and a Cuban jazz CD up at a fair volume) I noticed one of the blogs was called Soulseeker and it is a feel good place - think Chicken Soup for Everyone so enjoy:

http://myconnect.ca/read/93/23334

I'm off for an outbreak teleclass session - talk about timely! Happy Easter if I'm too busy baking and visiting with offspring to update for a couple of days.

DVDs Done

Yes that photo you see IS the demo DVD for my audition!! I managed to review it this evening and was really pleased with the technical aspect but it made me think I have to loose even more weight than I thought. The application process will be my project to fill the next couple of evenings. The DVD pickup was one of the best things that happened today; well it was close to the only good thing according to how you measured.

For example, I had to leave early to be at the district facility handling the situation at my home base on the cell phone on the way up – memo to self to pick up a hands free attachment as our provincial law in changing April 1st about cell phone use. I sorted out the crises du jour which involved a run to pharmacy for vaccine, attended a meeting, did some office work for two of my colleagues, responded to the in house calls and finally managed to make it down to Mental Health (it was hard to answer no when they asked if I was checking in) to pick up the stoneware crock I won in the silent auction last week, went shopping at the book display for a cookbook (as if I need another one of those but I can’t pass them by) and then headed home.

I’ve spent the evening attempt to polish the submission to DFO. I say attempting as the author of the document had a foggy brain from the head cold, which slowed the process even more. Hard to capture what someone wants to say when they don’t know how to say it.

I noticed that my cruise travel partner of last spring has headed out to Calgary to begin her studies for flight attendant. She was telling me that 84,000 people per year apply to WestJet and they take 25 so those are pretty slim odds for most. The only other person she’d seen again and who would be going out west with her was someone named Gus. When I asked what his claim to fame was she said, “he speaks five languages” Oh, is that all?

I had an unexpected email from a nursing school classmate who lives in BC that I haven’t seen for almost 10 years. She’s flying out for a visit so we will all get together for some catching up. Nice surprise.
There was no call from the appliance store about an oven today as promised so the man has his instructions…either come home tomorrow with an oven or don’t show up. Accidents do happen but a month in this household is a long time without an oven and we are expecting a houseful this weekend who would like to have shake n bake chicken and lemon meringue pie.