Since coming to the north, I've learnt that my scope of practice,is to say the least, very extensive. In all my training and discussion about my job, I was told that there would be "things outside the realm of nursing" that I would need to do. Some of which would be on a 'voluntary basis'. Someone is going to have to explain to me exactly what the definition of "Voluntary basis" means. Here it means "No-one else to do the job".
I have had 3 students in the past year, up to gain experience of northern nursing. Two of them, for the first patient of the north, have been 4 legged. One was suturing a dog, the other staple removal of a cat. Each student thought that this was some weird warped northern sense of humour, laid on to totally confuse them. But after dealing with their "patients", the smiles and comments where; "That was cool", "Never thought I'll ever do that". "How do you learn to do that?" Sparked their interest in how we work here,in the northern communities.
We do have a Vet, and he is very good at what he does. But he does serve several other communities. He came by to showed how to insert Intravenous catheters into animals if we where interested, which I was. Apart from being hairy and having large sharp teeth, it was easier to place I.V's than their human counterparts. What he didn't show us was how to suture animals. That was something I had to adapt from humans to the animals, which I've had to do many times. The Vet is going to show me several new techniques in suturing, as I've had a few 'challenging' wounds to suture the last few times.
There is a great sense of accomplishment to sedating an animal, after starting the I.V. and sew up sometimes terrible wounds, man and animal inflicted.
The look on the owners face, and sometimes a child's face because you 'fixed' their pet, is well worth any inconvenience of your private life. That's the way it is here, when the Vet is gone, you're the Vet.
This also can be a burden when it comes to "putting down" a pet, especially around Christmas time. The sorrow of loosing a friend at the holiday time spoils the Christmas spirit. It can leave you close to tears, as this family has lost a part of it's family. Even though it is very sad for them, they still offer their hospitality of the season for "calling you out" to do such a deed.
But doing this service for the people of this community, is in it's own way very rewarding. This is what, I hope I've installed in the students that do come here. Northern Nursing is not just the people of that community you nurse, but is also for the pets. The job is one that will push your own boundaries and comfort zones beyond the maximum, but the return on the effect is well worth it.
That's why there are alot of Northern Nurses who stay here because we love what we do and the people of the communities that we nurse.
Happy New Year to you all.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
"Some one say Lucky?"
Well things have been somewhat 'different' over the last few weeks. The case I was involved in the person has given his permission to tell the story.
it was at the weekend just recently, and I was on call(Something that every northern Nurse will do, and usually dislikes). The phone rang, and I answered. " Dawson City Nursing Station emergency line." " A plane's gone down." "What?" I answered, now that they have gain my full attention. " A small plane has crashed, you'll need to send an ambulance right now." The man then gave me an address that was on the other side of the river. I asked for more details, and he could not give me anything more; no casualties, not even the make of plane, nothing, not even a phone number He was using a new cell phone and could not remember the number to it.
Now at this point, it would be wise to let everyone know the circumstances that are , at the least unique to our area. We have 2 rivers, the Yukon and the Klondike. The Yukon has a ferry that operates until ' freeze-up', when it is taken out of the river. Then they wait until an 'Ice bridge' can be made to allow traffic to cross the river again. We where in the middle of freeze up, so no ferry, no ice bridge....NO way across the river, not with all the equipment we would need for a"Plane crash". It is dangerous even in a small skiff or canoe to navigate through all the ice, some of which are as big as a truck.
SO, back to the story. I quickly called the air traffic controller in our small airport here. No flights had taken off from the airport since Air North took off over a hour ago. Next I called the RCMP. Their response initially was the same as mine. We then exchanged details, and location of the accident. The position is about 6 KM from the town, and we can see no smoke, there is no reports of a loud crash or explosion. But in collaboration, we devised a plan of action. They would verify the details of the plane, and any passengers on board. I call the 2 helicopter companies to see if they knew anything and also to arrange the flight to the area if needed. No answer at either company. This was not a great surprise as both companies had been busy flying out to the mining camps all week.
Well, to say that things where now getting exciting would be an under statement. Within 20 minutes, we found out it was a Cessna, yellow in colour. There where 2-3 people on board at the time, no sure of the names. They had taken off from the airport, on the private part of the runway. They did not need clearance as it was a 'quick flight' of 10 minutes. At an attitude of several hundred feet, basically up the down. No reports of any problems with the plane though.
This was all happening area 2p.m. in the afternoon, clear skies. Yet no-one saw a thing, except for my caller earlier. 30 minutes go by, nothing new was found out. We had called several of the residencies across the river, nothing. No-one had heard or saw anything. We had to wait as nothing could be verified.
3 hours passed, then I get a call from the Nursing Stations main lobby.
it was at the weekend just recently, and I was on call(Something that every northern Nurse will do, and usually dislikes). The phone rang, and I answered. " Dawson City Nursing Station emergency line." " A plane's gone down." "What?" I answered, now that they have gain my full attention. " A small plane has crashed, you'll need to send an ambulance right now." The man then gave me an address that was on the other side of the river. I asked for more details, and he could not give me anything more; no casualties, not even the make of plane, nothing, not even a phone number He was using a new cell phone and could not remember the number to it.
Now at this point, it would be wise to let everyone know the circumstances that are , at the least unique to our area. We have 2 rivers, the Yukon and the Klondike. The Yukon has a ferry that operates until ' freeze-up', when it is taken out of the river. Then they wait until an 'Ice bridge' can be made to allow traffic to cross the river again. We where in the middle of freeze up, so no ferry, no ice bridge....NO way across the river, not with all the equipment we would need for a"Plane crash". It is dangerous even in a small skiff or canoe to navigate through all the ice, some of which are as big as a truck.
SO, back to the story. I quickly called the air traffic controller in our small airport here. No flights had taken off from the airport since Air North took off over a hour ago. Next I called the RCMP. Their response initially was the same as mine. We then exchanged details, and location of the accident. The position is about 6 KM from the town, and we can see no smoke, there is no reports of a loud crash or explosion. But in collaboration, we devised a plan of action. They would verify the details of the plane, and any passengers on board. I call the 2 helicopter companies to see if they knew anything and also to arrange the flight to the area if needed. No answer at either company. This was not a great surprise as both companies had been busy flying out to the mining camps all week.
Well, to say that things where now getting exciting would be an under statement. Within 20 minutes, we found out it was a Cessna, yellow in colour. There where 2-3 people on board at the time, no sure of the names. They had taken off from the airport, on the private part of the runway. They did not need clearance as it was a 'quick flight' of 10 minutes. At an attitude of several hundred feet, basically up the down. No reports of any problems with the plane though.
This was all happening area 2p.m. in the afternoon, clear skies. Yet no-one saw a thing, except for my caller earlier. 30 minutes go by, nothing new was found out. We had called several of the residencies across the river, nothing. No-one had heard or saw anything. We had to wait as nothing could be verified.
3 hours passed, then I get a call from the Nursing Stations main lobby.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The starting page of my blog
A friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to write a blog about my experiences in the north as a RN in one of the northern communities. Things here are not the same as in the southern part of Canada, they can be total different and the unexpected can also be the norm here. Time will show.
So it's started, and I'll post new entries as we progress further. Some I hope will make you laugh, some will call your own practice into question we hope. Others I am hoping will just make your head shake, as you will feel this is a page of the "twilight Zone" or "Ripley's believe or not".
Northern RN's tend to be is all circumstances, 'weird'. WHO in their right mind would spend months in the cold and dark, rave about the 'heat wave' of -20 degrees and venture out with a light-weight fleece on. When the summer is here with the 24 hours sunlight, turn around and say, " You know I wish it was winter again, at least it's cooler and there is no biting flies around".
Of course there is the planing to do in the fall, the hunting season rush to get Caribou, Moose and woodland Bison. The fishing is another benefit to living in the north, it is to say it in one word, Fantastic. Wood to collect, cut and stack. Cars/trucks to get 'winterised', plug ins to check and ensure that they work. All draughts are sealed.
In the clinic, ALL IV fluids, x-rays solutions, cleaners, even liquid meds...in fact all fluids have to be sent up in a refrigerated truck. Not to keep them cool, but to stop them from freezing. Yes that means we actually try and keep them 'warm'. We try and order 2 weeks ahead of demands, but that doesn't work all the time, and we do improvise a lot. We can't just 'order from the stores' as they do NOT deliver that afternoon or next day. Unless you get it flown up on the plane in an emergency (Air North is really good to us for getting things to us) it will take 2-5 days before you see it.
Our 'clientele' are First Nation and Non First Nation. Some have been here all their lives, just after the 'Gold Rush' had died down a wee bit, 1910's-1920's. Some are responsible for
' opening up' certain areas of the Yukon, either mining or laying the electric cables used in the process of getting gold out. Gold played a big part here, and still does.
Well this just gives everyone a rough idea as to what the area is like. To give it justice I would need to write a complete book on it, and then it would only skim the surface. Needless to say, there is plenty character here, both in the surrounding areas and town, and also within the people who live here.
So it's started, and I'll post new entries as we progress further. Some I hope will make you laugh, some will call your own practice into question we hope. Others I am hoping will just make your head shake, as you will feel this is a page of the "twilight Zone" or "Ripley's believe or not".
Northern RN's tend to be is all circumstances, 'weird'. WHO in their right mind would spend months in the cold and dark, rave about the 'heat wave' of -20 degrees and venture out with a light-weight fleece on. When the summer is here with the 24 hours sunlight, turn around and say, " You know I wish it was winter again, at least it's cooler and there is no biting flies around".
Of course there is the planing to do in the fall, the hunting season rush to get Caribou, Moose and woodland Bison. The fishing is another benefit to living in the north, it is to say it in one word, Fantastic. Wood to collect, cut and stack. Cars/trucks to get 'winterised', plug ins to check and ensure that they work. All draughts are sealed.
In the clinic, ALL IV fluids, x-rays solutions, cleaners, even liquid meds...in fact all fluids have to be sent up in a refrigerated truck. Not to keep them cool, but to stop them from freezing. Yes that means we actually try and keep them 'warm'. We try and order 2 weeks ahead of demands, but that doesn't work all the time, and we do improvise a lot. We can't just 'order from the stores' as they do NOT deliver that afternoon or next day. Unless you get it flown up on the plane in an emergency (Air North is really good to us for getting things to us) it will take 2-5 days before you see it.
Our 'clientele' are First Nation and Non First Nation. Some have been here all their lives, just after the 'Gold Rush' had died down a wee bit, 1910's-1920's. Some are responsible for
' opening up' certain areas of the Yukon, either mining or laying the electric cables used in the process of getting gold out. Gold played a big part here, and still does.
Well this just gives everyone a rough idea as to what the area is like. To give it justice I would need to write a complete book on it, and then it would only skim the surface. Needless to say, there is plenty character here, both in the surrounding areas and town, and also within the people who live here.
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