It has been a while since I added to my blog. Work, sleep, work, sleep, and work. Well, you get the picture. Work
is interesting. I am learning to do intra venous, which is a skill I need. I even have had one doctor and one nurse who
have volunteered to practice on.
Real people when I am ready.
There are a few health issues that are very prevalent here. The first is respiratory issues with both
adults and children. First is Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which comes from smoking. Asthma is high here too. As for the children is bronchiolitis. I have been told that there is a high
incidence of SIDS. And there is obesity
with both adults and children and its associated health conditions. Rankin Inlet is very fortunate to have
midwives and a birthing centre. There
are a lot of very young moms. Mom and
midwives walk in about an hour or so before the birth and walk out with baby
about 3 hours afterwards. The way it
supposed to be!!! There are about 50-60 births a year. I don’t know the statistics with this versus
the number of births in the territory. The
other option is to go to Winnipeg at 36 weeks and wait for labour to begin. There is an Inuit Centre for people to
stay to wait for births, for patients who are having treatments or procedures. Also patients have an escort who travels with
them and this is covered by the health system. In Rankin, we feed them when their family
member is hospitalized if they are from another community. They stay in the
housing in Winnipeg. For the smaller
communities like Arviat, Whale Cove and Baker Lake, when people are too sick to
be handled in their own community they are medivaced (air transported out) or
sent to us by a regular airline and afterwards returned home. Again the health system covers this. If they are critically ill, they are medivaced
right to Winnipeg. The health system is
set up so that residence can go south for the more complex health issues.
Things that are different at the health centre here. First, both the doctor and the nurse from the
clinic come up to the unit to give report.
If people are from other communities and they are stable enough, they
may be fortunate enough to get a pass to leave the hospital to go shopping or
visit family in the community. Post
discharge at times they go to a hotel in town for a few days before they travel
home. If blood work needs to go to the
lab, you take it to the lab yourself.
Going for x-ray or ultrasound…you take the patient. As for long-term care, not every community is
fortunate enough to have a facility within it.
Long-term care is used as a last resort; most families take care of the
elders. When nurse work the inpatient
unit at night we are provided a dinner since we cannot leave the building. This is great because the food is great and
freshly made (even steamed veggies).
Even the snacks are fresh. There
is also a staff member who is responsible for taking care of the staffs’
housing issues if we are transients. Need a Brita filter, call Sarah; have
problems with your phone, call Sarah. Get the picture???
Now for the Internet issues…very slow!!!! Appreciate you high-speed people and the
amount of downloading you can do. I get
1/6 of most southern plans and I had to buy the modem to get this plan…the best
or you pay ++++$$$$$$. Gee, downloading
will not happen at home!!!! Before I
leave I will post that I will be selling the modem on the Facebook buy and sell
page. It is a very active site and
anything goes. It is cheaper to sell
than to ship or take it home.
Down south you have door-to-door sales people who will sell
you anything. In Rankin Inlet we get
door-to-door soapstone carvers with their artwork. The pieces are different than I have seen
before, so a few will have to come home with me. I have learned who the good artists are in
town. I have asked someone to make me a
parka but I have not heard back yet.
As for the weather!!!!
Since I arrived, there has been 2 days warm enough for shorts and
sleeveless tops. I need to make that 3 days. Today is warm and I am heading to bed ( worked the last 3 nights). I usually have a
sweatshirt or fleece jacket on and long pants.
Most days it is windy and it is usually cool. We actually want some wind because it keeps
the bug level down. I have swallowed a
few. When there is no wind you will see
people waving their arms like crazy to get the bugs out of the way when
walking. The one thing I really like is
the clean air…no asthma problems for me.
But it is interesting that it can be cool outside and you can be
sweating…and it is not a hot flash!!!!!
There are some cultural differences that are prevalent.
Inuit people eat things raw…caribou, arctic char, seal and whale. Yuck!!!! They tend to wear their day clothes to bed,
not pajamas. There is a lot and I mean a
lot of adoption here. I talked to one
mother who gave birth to 6 children of which she is raising 3 of them. Another gave birth to 3 children and is
raising 2. And women are a little too
free with giving children away. One of the
nurses has been offered a baby or two in the last year. Some of this came from the time when they
were nomads and if a parent died and could not care for all their children
another family related or close friends would take one or some of the children
and raise them as their own. I don’t
know what they do from a legal standpoint.
Apparently the children still know who their birth mothers are. The young mom today I was talking to is 23
and one of her children is about 7. She
told me her cousin is 21 and has no children yet. Interesting!!!!!
Then there is the food…expensive when bought locally, even
though the federal government subsidizes nutritious food. The choices aren’t that good. I bought 7 boxes of groceries from a Winnipeg
company, having free shipping on the nutritious stuff. With the combination of fresh and frozen I
should be good for quite a while. It took
about 5 days to get here. Just an
example of prices: 24 cans of pop - $35,
4 litres of Chapman Ice Cream - $15, and a tin of crushed tomatoes $5. But I pay the same for eggs here as you do
in the south…. subsidy!!! Get the
picture?? This would be why there is a
northern allowance with your pay.
I will post some more pictures soon.
Take care!!!
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