It is the Weekend!

Finally the weekend arrives. I was on call both Wed. and Friday pm, but did not get a single call. I am on call today, and I expect to have to come in at least once. We spent all of Thursday in the clinic. It was walk in clinic during the day, and vaccination and well baby clinic in the afternoon. It feels great to be seeing patients!

The nusing staff here in POV is great. They are a young and welcoming group. We were invited over to join a big group of staff for a dinner at one of the nurses house last night. There were a lot of interesting stories told, and I learned a lot about life up here in the great north from those who have been here a while. Even the young doctors we work with are very welcoming, and treat the nurses as equals here.

I was told that I am leaving POV on WED. I will fly to Inukjuak and will stay there until Dec. 29th. So, finally I know where I am going after orientation, and I am excited to start working full time. I also look forward to unpacking and getting settled in for a while. I am desperate to send for some supplies in Montreal, but needed to wait until I have a fixed address in order to receive anything by post.

Well, I should get back home. We are going for a drive in the tundra this afternoon. I can not wait to post some pictures, but I have to wait for an interent connection in order to download my pics on the computer.

Finally here

Here I am in POV! The flight was scary. We flew in a 29 person cargo plane, which is a very noisy plane. It was a tight fit to say the least! When we landed at La Grande airport, they asked us to deplane while more cargo was loaded on. But a 20 minute stop ended taking an hour longer after we were told that POV weather was bad, and we might be returned to Montreal. In the end, we took off and headed for our destination with no problems.

We were met at the airport by a nurse named Brigitte who will be orientaing us. She is very nice, and very welcoming. We were driven to the hospital (2 minutes from the airport) to find out where we would be staying. There was mass confusion over the housing, but in the end, my friend Leilani and I stayed in a four and a half apartment called transit. Staying with us was another girl named Anne from the Public health department. The place is very clean, and spacious. It is fun to live with other people, there is always lots of comapny. We do not have internet access at home, and I am not able to get on the internet with my wireless. The service is very slow, even at the hospital.

Our place is 15 steps from the hospital. There is no ER at the hospital, our clinic serves as the ER. There is a small lab and a one room x ray dept. I think the hospital has about 10 beds for observation. We did our first clinic day yest. It is crazy.....so different than nursing in Montreal. Here we are the pharmacist, the doctor and the nurse. So far I have had very interesting cases. I was on call last night but had no calls. Maybe it was quiet because it was halloween.

Things here are very disorganised, and information changes on an hourly basis. It looks like we will be staying here until next Thursday, and then flying to our new village. I am glad to get a good orientation, but at the same time, I am excited to see where I will b going. But as I said, the info on our departure date has changed many times, so we will wait and see what happens. I am off to eat lunch, write again soon. Miss u all!!!!! Leilani says HI!!! Sorry for the spelling mistakes, there is no spell check here.

All Over

Finally, the training is over. This month just flew by...........but it was tough. I wrote the written exam on Friday. 100 questions, multiple choice, in FRENCH! Well, I know I passed, but at what percent I have no idea, probably high sixties. Needless to say, I am happy that the stress of the classes is done. I am sure my french has improved, and I learned a great deal from the course. Now I am just relaxing and enjoying my last two days at home.

Packing is all done. I am probable a little over the allotted weight, but it was hard to decide what to bring. I am sure that the second time around I will be a lighter packer.

Its tough saying goodbye to everyone. I saw my parents today and had a great fair-well meal. There is nothing like going home.......nothing. I will be saying goodbye to everyone else tomorrow, and after that is done, I am sure that the reality that I am about to enter a whole new world will set in. Great north.....Here I come!!!!!!!!!!