March/April Blizzard

Life in the north involves blizzards!! They happen. The definition seems to be somewhat vague but usually involves low temperatures, low visibility, strong winds and blowing snow. Accumulations may not be big, but the blowing makes all the difference.

There are also Winter storm warnings. Not sure what the diffference is. The weather report at weatheroffice Nunavut (using google search engine) said that Monday March the 29th was a winter storm warning day. It was beautiful. The skies were deep azure and there were not clouds. Photos were taken. It is amazing how quickly things can change.

This was also the day that one of our patients developed high blood pressure. She was in for a regular 35 week appointment and her blood pressure was 152/98. Not terrible if you are near an obstetrician or a hospital. We had neither of these. Winnipeg was phoned. We were told to recheck it that evening and if it was still that high to medevac her out. If not she could take a sched (scheduled flight) the next day.

I went to take her blood pressure early that evening. It was down slightly 148/96, but it did not matter. We were in the beginnings of a blizzard and there were no planes leaving.

Walking to her house was difficult. She lived on one of the few roads that does not connect to main roads, so although she was only a block away as the crow flies, it was about 4 blocks to walk it. The winds were 60km an hour at this point.

Tuesday conditions were slightly better. We went to work, and waited for the e-mail that would tell us to leave work. We cancelled all our babies, as most of the Mum's walked to appointments with their babies in their amoutiq's. Work was not cancelled, but we did wonder how we were going to get home that evening. Road conditions were terrible.

That night there was a birth, and I was second on call. The first on call did not call me. Conditions were terrible. A nurse was sleeping at the health centre and she had obstetrical experience. The first on call midwife had to go and pick up the clients, from a bed and breakfast as they were from a Kivalliq community and not Rankin Inlet. She could not drive into the health centre because the drifts were so bad, and ended up parking at her own home and walking with the woman, her husband and three year old to the health centre. The baby was born less than an hour later.

The next morning I looked out the window and waited for a phone call. Usually they come before 8am saying that work is cancelled for the day. It did not come. Looking out the window I could see about three houses away. The blowing snow was phenomenal. We had no front stairs to our building because the drifts had covered them. Went outside to go to work. I had been advised to walk as the ploughs had not been through.

This week I was taking care of Mitzi, one of the midwive's Norwegian Elkhound puppy, and her house. Went there to make sure she was okay before work. Of course she had managed to wind her chain through the wood of the small porch and was now had the freedom of only about 18 inches of chain. I had to find a knife to push through the slats to free her. Then gave her a treat. And now the ploughs were going through. Figured I could drive to work.

This morning one of our midwives and the maternity care worker were to be at the school for a job fair. Our supervisor was taking a management course at the health centre, and I was to be the only person at the "wellness centre" to manage whatever patients walked in. Wednesday is an administration day.

I picked up the maternity care worker and we drove to the wellness centre. Roads were awful. Snow was flat and you could not tell where many of the drifts were, and many of them were eighteen inches deep. Ploughs had only done one lane on some of the roads, and none on others. You could not pass and at certain intersections you could not see what was coming.

We got to the wellness centre to find that the fair was cancelled, and so were the schools. As a result the midwife had to stay home and look after her 4 and 6 year olds. We also realized that I needed to go back to the health centre to pick up some paperwork. So, we tried again. Roads around the health centre are the worst in town. The wind blows off the sea ice and visibility is really poor, and the drifts are also bad wherever there is any protection at all, as in from the snow piled at the sides of the road. We did make it there, and then chose to drive around town (silly when I look back at it now) and take some pictures.

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We got back to the wellness centre about 30 minutes later and did do some work. It was obvious to everyone that it was just a matter of time before the e-mail message came that day. It finally did at 11:15, just announcing that Rankin Inlet government offices were closed until further notice.

Our high blood pressure lady lived very near the health centre and she went there about 10:30 to have her pressue checked. It was again high, but not as bad as it had been. However, she had some protein and some visual disturbances. Basically, there was nothing we could do.

We did get home, and spent the afternoon watching tv, playing facebook, cleaning. That night was stitch and bitch and conditions were somewhat better, in that you could walk, but not drive. Walked to the neighbours house and we had a very nice evening stitching and talking.

The next morning we again waited for the phone call that did not happen. Schools were also in this day. We needed to do a home visit on the woman who had birthed, and again cancelled all out postpartum visits so mothers would not have to walk in. I believe two women were seen that day, at 10am. Two of us went to do the home visit. We could not see driving. Visibility was bad enough that you could only see across the street, and not during gusts. With both of us looking out the car windows we could not see everything coming, and we could not see the drifts. The car that Birthing drives is called the Shitara, as it is older, and small. It made it to the bed and breakfast and back. While there though, we were phoned to tell us that it was now a blizzard day, and the wellness centre was being closed. It was 10:15.

I was on first call, so would need to walk to the blood pressure woman and check her, if conditions got any better. In the afternoon they did for a short period of time, so I walked to her house. I knew the short cuts, but it was still amazing getting there.

In Rankin, you can see where the drifts are, if visibility allows, or you are walking. What you cannot tell is the texture of the snow. You can walk across a drift and not sink into it at all, because the snow is so firm, and suddenly go down to your hip as the texture has changed. It is quite fun, if you are dressed adequately, and not in a rush.

Conditions improved over the next couple of hours, and the storm was supposed to end, and be followed by a very nice Easter weekend. I was going to go out on a dog sled to a cabin, with an igloo and sleep Friday night in the igloo.

By Thursday night, provisions in town were getting low. There was no milk in the stores, and no vegetables, but these were not as missed as milk.

Friday, Good Friday, the sun rose beautifully. Extra flights were put on. Our lady went out (and had her baby the next day. Often flying here seems to put women into labour), and I phoned about timing for dog sledding.

The weather forcast had changed. Now Friday was to be good, but a winter storm warning with high winds was to come up on Saturday. Our options were to go on Friday and plan to come back Sunday. We could wait and go Sunday and come back Monday. Or if the worst came we could go on Monday and come back Tuesday. I knew right away the latter would not work as the call schedule would not allow it.

Luckily we chose not to go. By Friday night we were in another blizzard. We did go dog sledding to exercise the dogs in the afternoon, and it was lovely, but conditions here change so quickly that there was no visibility and heavy winds by Friday night.

As it turned out we had another blizzard from Friday night til Monday morning. It was a very good thing we did not go out. However, conditions were good enough on Friday that several freight flights were made and the town was restocked.

/div>It was lovely to be able to have coffee with cream again, during the second blizzard.

One of the discussions that newbies have soon after arrival here is what to do during a blizzard. The general concensus is...stay home. Do whatever you can at home, but don't go out. We actually had a good time during these two blizzards, because although conditions were bad, you could see far enough...one house, that it was safe to go out, if you were not going too far, and stayed on the roads. We watched dvd's and movies, knitted, crochetted, read and used our computers. It's no wonder that everyone likes blizzard days...occasionally.