updates!

Hey everyone,
My internet access has been bad for the last week or so, but I'm finally at another apartment and connected again!
Since last time, I've been out on the ATV to Bloody Falls which was the most fun trip ever (see picture of me looking way too happy to be attempting to shoot a rifle - do not worry it was way to loud and scary for me)
We've also been on a couple of walks, one out to an inukshuk out on the rocks which was nice. We were fogged in for a few days but luckily got one medevac out that we needed to, for a guy who initially presented with a dislocated shoulder and then ended up having really unusual neuro symptoms after a few hours (this was on Canada Day, so I missed all the festivities). Unfortunately the fog trapped some people who were trying to get out on vacation...but cleared after three days so all is well now! Today is Nunavut Day so I'm hoping to get out to the barbeque and see what else is going on around town.
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

if i didn't say i was in the arctic, you'd never guess...

beaches, flowers, open water... where am I again?!
When I first came the water in the picture on the left was all iced over! Just 4 weeks ago!

see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

oh babies

This week has been all about the little ones! Many, many little ones coming in with coughs (most of them so far just viral so just needing Tylenol and TLC). I am getting good at listening to chests and looking in ears! Plus, the kids are amazingly cute and playful when they are well! Saw one kid who got hit in the head with a golf club and needed some glue on his cut, but luckily nothing too exciting yet this week. I successfully drew blood and gave my first tuberculin skin test, so those were good skills to get into.
It has been rainy and overcast for the last few days, but brightened up today so I should be able to get a few more pictures of the open water tonight. Apparently the kids are catching char! Saw a float plane on the water today which was fun to watch. Luckily no earthquakes or tornadoes here (be careful, Ontario!) and hoping to keep it that way!
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

bears

So, I'm sure you all have bets going about how long it takes before I get eaten by a bear...and last night was about the second closest I've gotten (first goes to Rogue River backpacking...) We went out for a walk slash scramble on the rocks at the lake, and got about 1/4 way around when we saw some bear tracks going to the water and back. Being far out and under-armed, we booked it back across the rocks (with 5/8 feet getting soaked). So hoping to not see any more of those around.
Life around the Health Centre has been going well, I'm starting to see more of my own patients and still learning a lot from every case. Looking forward to being on call again next week too!
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

the sights

Went for a walk on Thursday and this is what I saw!
This is the view from the top of a hill looking over the "downtown" area

Ice starting to break up

In other news, it was 24C here today!!! Nice and warm and I went out for another walk but the camera didn't manage any decent shots. Just taking it easy this weekend, getting out and stretching my legs as much as I can! I was at a suicide intervention workshop on Thursday and Friday which had some interesting skills to teach, but was a lot more sitting than I'm used to. Got out for a run to the airport yesterday but at least two people have told me that running out to the dump would be farther so once I figure out where that is I'll head over there (hopefully it's not too smelly...)
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

home care

Hi everyone,
For the beginning of this week, I was doing home care with the RN who coordinates it for the 20 patients in Kugluktuk. Most of what I was doing was assessments, which involved going to the patient's home and asking a series of health and ability questions. The home care program here has a nurse as well as several community care workers who provide housekeeping. This week has been very interesting as I have had the chance to meet many of the elders in the community. A lot of them speak only Innuinaqtun (which you have probably not heard of since it's mostly spoken in this area only) so I had to take one of the community care workers with me to translate. It has been really interesting to see these homes, and of course the foods there! I have been seeing the classic dried meats (assuming the ribs everywhere are from caribou???) but today I saw a dead seal on a piece of cardboard outside of someone's home. Not something you see everyday in Hamilton...
The other most fantastic thing about this week has been the weather! (don't laugh!) It has been amazingly sunny and warm. When I was discussing this with a community member, she said it was because an elder had just died and that there was always good weather and hunting thanks to the elder's gift. I got out for a walk last night and saw that people are still out on the snowmobiles on the ice (which is starting to break up now!) so hopefully we have just the right amount of warm weather for them to get their machines in safely!
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

Caribou pie

In what I have come to see as true Northern form, the nurses and RCMP got together again today, this time to help one of the nurses move. After packing last night, we were hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to throw the boxes and furniture into a pickup and drive it a block, but we were wrong! After hours of hauling things down stairs, into freezing weather, and back upstairs in the new house, we finally had most of it dumped in the living room. After putting together the baby’s bed (and of course singing some favourite songs with him) we left to let everyone have a nap. We were invited to one of the RCMP members’ house for supper. I was enticed because of one particular offering: caribou shepherd’s pie. As most of you know, I decided to eat fish before I came up here to broaden my nutritional options, but I also told myself that I would try to sample foods from here just for the sake of being able to say I ate them. Caribou is definitely one of them! The shepherd’s pie was delicious, and I’m not sick yet, so all in all a pretty good day off! Tomorrow we are on call again and have one baby going out on a schedevac (scheduled today to go out tomorrow on the airline to the ER in Yellowknife) but hoping for no excitement.
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

another one bites the dust...

It snowed here this morning! The day wasn't as exciting but I did get to see some of my own follow up patients so that was good. Fridays are admin day at the HC so after the usual morning sick clinic we are able to catch up on some of our monitoring of patients and labs. The room I'm in is the "love bug" room, which is a cute way of saying we monitor the STIs. When we get back a positive urine sample, we have to treat and contact trace. It sounds not too exciting, but it's great because it's easy to see progress and check off the list! Plus, after every treatment my preceptor sings the "another one bites the dust" song :) Since I've seen enough, I can go through these patients myself.
There was another seizure today but since I wasn't nurse on call I wasn't as involved. This one was an adult with a history, so he wasn't medevaced but just monitored in the HC for the day on an IV and dilantin.
Going into my first weekend (hopefully some pictures to come!) and on call again on Sunday, which will hopefully be just a little less eventful...
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

on call

Hey everyone!
So I only got a few hours of sleep after being on call and having to wake up at 6 for online PBL, but here goes the night! After supper we had a couple calls which, as I mentioned, were dealt with and resolved well. Then, a child called the nurse on call line and told us we had to come to the health centre because someone had a seizure. We jumped in the truck and drove down to find a child and adult huddled on the steps. We brought them in to the emerg room (which has a bed, oxygen, IV pole, etc) and checked the girl over. She was stable but very tired and kept dozing off. Then the RCMP officer came in to warn us he was bringing in another person, so we quickly contacted our second for backup (there are always two nurses on call here, one gets the calls - this is first on call- and the other has to be available within 15 minutes to come and help if needed). She came in and helped with the basics: inserting an IV, taking a urine sample, and helping with the head to toe and vitals monitoring. As my nurse was phoning for a doctors consult (because the nurses here can give many drugs without a doctor but there is once group of medications that needs a verbal order, like the anticonvulsant we gave). Because we were unable to determine what had caused the seizure, which is not just something that should happen in an average young teenager without a cause like a head injury, toxin, etc, the doctor approved a medevac to Yellowknife. This means we call the medevac company and get them to come, which usually takes just over an hour. As we were monitoring the patient and getting the paperwork ready, the patients mum went home to pack. On the medevacs, children and those who are medically unstable are able to have one escort go with them. Luckily, she stayed stable and continued to improve on her alertness (although she was still incredibly sleepy). I drove out with the second on call to pick up the medevac nurse (and saw the most stunning 1:30am pseudo-sunset of my life!) and bring her back to the HC. We gave report and she took over the patient and went back in the truck with mum and girl to take off in the plane. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Stanton Territorial in Yellowknife. After cleaning up the emerg room and once again checking the lights and windows were all good for the night, we came home and crashed, waiting for the next phone call to come in.
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

yesterday

I was about to post this last night when we got called out again...so another update on last night/this morning will come today!

Today was Well Child day at the Health Centre, so I got to see some amazing children! One was just 4 days old, gaining weight well, and a full head of hair! Today was also my first day of nurse on call (not just me of course, but following my preceptor) and I’m only part way through that so I’ll have to keep you posted. Much of the community has gone out on the land as it is a fantastic day out, so we didn’t have many calls during the day but have a had a few tonight since supper and had to head back to the HC to see three patients. I was invited to a barbeque with some other nurses and RCMP which was fun (and no one noticed that my “burger” was just tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, and cheese!) The land is absolutely beautiful, I still can’t get over looking out the window of our office to see the ice starting to melt on the water and the backdrop of rocks and just the starts of grass. I’m hoping that my camera will cooperate to get at least a couple of shots in (since I left Hamilton it won’t focus anymore unless I zoom to the exact right level which means most of the shots have to be closer in than I want).

see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk

made it!

Hi everyone,
I arrived in Kugluktuk this afternoon and am briefly on some borrowed internet until I can get mine set up. The flights were fantastic and I got to see a tour from above of the ice and snow that are still hanging around these parts. After a brief period of being separated from my luggage ("Where do I get my bags?", "Well if you go outside there's a piece of wood...") I got picked up and driven around a quick tour of town a d a walk through the health centre. Settling in tonight and my first day tomorrow!
see you soon,
kirsten in kugluktuk!!!!

Yellowknife

Hi everyone! Well, I successfully made it all the way to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories! The first picture is of me just before leaving Hamilton (yep, the suitcase was exactly 50lbs!) Left from Mississauga this morning at 6:15 and had the shortest check in time ever at the airport (no delays, only one bag, didn't even need to show my passport!) The flight was fantastic and had a TV in the seat, very fancy. Had a quick stopover in Edmonton where it was snowing, but luckily after a switch to s smaller plane and 2 hour hop across a mass of lakes and melting ice (so much water! Good thing I took that elective, which allows me to tell you that I saw some perfectly textbook oxbow lakes from above). The second shot is of gorgeous Yellowknife! I couldn't see the town until we were almost on the ground, but the taxi driver told me it is about 26,000 people and growing with jobs in mining and other industries. My hotel is on the outskirts of town near the airport, but in the picture you can see across the lake to downtown Yellowknife. It is hot and sunny here and I've managed to pick up some groceries (soup, canned beans, laundry detergent, duct tape, and a couple veggies) and settled in for a bit. Looking forward to getting some sleep and getting ready for my flights to Kugluktuk tomorrow!
see you soon,
kirsten (still not in kugluktuk, but a whole lot closer!)

Getting ready

Hi everyone! Well, it is t-minus four days until I leave. I am about half packed (and probably over the 44lb weight limit for the turboprop already). It's 30+ almost everyday this week in Hamilton, which is not so good for my weather transition, and also means I can't pack away the shorts in the basement yet! Last few days of work and play here, of course hoping the Bulldogs win tonight, and then I'm off! Counting the sunsets :)
Keep an eye every so often for updates! I depart for Yellowknife on Sunday and then on to Kugluktuk for Monday afternoon (where we are 1 hour ahead of Pacific time and 2 hours behind Eastern time, fyi)
see you soon,
kirsten (not yet in kugluktuk)