We are already two weeks into April. I have been in Iqaluit for 3 weeks. Josh has been here for 8 weeks! Wow, pretty hard to believe. This past week has been an exciting one for us. I started my job at the hospital and we moved into our apartment!
My first four shifts at the hospital went very well. The staff is very team oriented and come from a large variety of backgrounds. Everyone has been very open and will to answer my questions. Thus far, I have found the unit less acute than 5 West, but am challenged by the wide variety of patients that we have come through the doors; heart attacks, seizures, psych, sick newborns, overdoses/withdrawals, abd pain (yay, I know what to do with that!) and post operative patients. Oh, and did I mention babies? Babies galore. Nunavut has the highest birth rate in Canada and the majority of Nunavut babies are born in our hospital. These absolutely adorable newborns have held my fascination. That nursing has taken me from a non-stop busy surgical unit to be able to rock a newborn babe, has me completely dumbfounded. When it comes to nursing babies and children, I am the first to say that I have no idea what I am doing! Adults and kids are so different in their needs, their normal vital signs, their communication styles and their medication dosages. I find it rather terrifying and exciting to have the opportunity to learn about this population of munchkins. Most of my colleagues have been up here for a few years and are very experienced with pediatrics and I am enjoying everything I have learned so far from them.
The other really neat thing about nursing here is how integrated health care is with aviation. We rely on medevacs to get acutely ill patients to the Qikiqtani hospital and/or to send them to higher levels of tertiary care in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Montreal. There are no roads that connect the 27 communities in this territory, so air travel is the only means of viable transportation. (Going on a 8 hour snowmobile trek when you're having a medical emergency is not a wise idea). The health care system here also uses scheduled airline flights to bring patients from up island down to Iqaluit for specialist appointments and tests. Having to factor pilot duty time (the amount of hours they can fly in a 24-hour period), mechanical plane issues and weather conditions into my patients' care is another aspect of nursing that is new to me.
Well, I could talk about nursing forever, and I'm sure I will again. But I should mention how awesome it feels to have our very own place. We received our housing assignment a week after applying and are so thankful for God's prompt provision. Living at the crew house was great. It enabled me to be able to join Josh sooner than if I would have had to wait in Edmonton. It allowed me to get to know the crew Josh has been working with. And let me say, what a good bunch of guys they are. It also is located in a perfect spot to explore the whole town with ease, which I did during my fourteen unemployed days. That being said, we are so thankful to have our own place now. Josh especially enjoys coming home and being able to leave work at work. For the first time since he started this job, he can unwind in the comfort of his own home. Our apartment is smack dab in the middle between the crew house and the hospital, which is ideal for both of us. It is connected to a hotel and a second apartment building. This means we can go to the restaurant, movie theatre, grocery store and gym wearing flip flops and not worry about frostbite. (I should note that I find this a novelty, Josh is less motivated to wear his sandals then I am).
Well, that about sums up our week. Weather wise (because people always ask) we're not flooding, blizzarding or melting like Alberta. It's just a bright and sunny -20C with 30km/hr winds. And oddly enough, that feels very warm.
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