Adventures and other bits of life

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Churchill

Churchill is a place I have always dreamed of visiting. It really is part of my "bucket list", must sees before I leave this planet!. And it is one dream that has finally come true.

Who can resist the allure of this small town. The polar bear capital of the world, a northern town, almost in the Arctic, where there is sea ice. Whenever there has been talk of this small northern Manitoba town I have been fascinated.

The dream however, is a little different from the reality.

Churchill has about one third the population of Rankin Inlet, 900 compared to 2800. It is obviously a tourist town, and has many hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts. All the street signs are polar bears. There are many attractions, including the Eskimo Museum, the Train museum, souvenir shops selling carvings, tuftings and clothing, and hockey. (Hockey is an attraction in all northern towns, and one of the activities that draws the towns together.)

I arrived in Churchill on Saturday morning, and checked into my hotel at 2am. A little late, but that is when the medevac plane had arrived and been put away. The airport is about 6 miles from the town. It was part of the old army/air force base. That is known as Fort Churchill and it seems that not much of it is still in use, or even there.

When you arrive from the North, the great thing about Churchill is the trees. It is also an amazing part of the landscape if you arrive from the south. Churchill is just south of the tree line. There are trees. They are short, often have branches on only one side, because of the wind, and are often hundreds of years old. Locals tell me that Inuit children arrive and are in awe of the "tall" trees. People from southern climes are also in awe of the trees, but more because of their survival, and shape.

On a number of flights to and through the aeroport, I have met and seen a number of tourists going on eco tours in Churchill. Have looked up some of the available tours, just to see when and how I could do one. They generally guarantee that you will see bears, whales, seals, wolves, and various other wildlife. (This is the one aspect of northern life that has escaped me. So far have seen various birds and siksiks in the summer, and in the winter, Ravens and Arctic Hares.)

Many of the tourists have talked about the polar bear jail. Churchill is well known for it. This is an old Quanset building near the airport, and not a tourist attraction. Tourists are not allowed to visit it. I was also told that the bears are not fed while there, because they are caught during their "lean times". They can be there for a month, and are flown by helicopter to new locations when it is time. From reading I understand they are also marked so if they arrive too many times, more drastic action can be taken.

There are many rumours about polar bears. One of the Midwives talks about how a polar bear, when she was working in Churchill, killed a young man. You hear that they are the only animal that will hunt and stalk man. You also hear that they avoid man. (I do know that when we went to Marble Island, the tour guides carried rifles to keep bears away.) Whether polar bears are a menace to man seems to be unknown. Obviously if you get between a mother and her cubs, there is a problem. It is not a good idea to be out walking where there are bears, and they warn you of this on walking trails in this town.

Check out time at the hotel was 11am. I was actually quite tired. On Friday had worked the usual 8:30-5:00 but had been called about 4:30 and then worked until plane landed at 2am. It had been a long day. The hotel had arranged for a ride for me to the airport at 19:00. Luckily the clerk knew the airline schedules. She phoned and we found out the plane actually left at 18:00, so they changed my ride time. She also mentioned that I should go to the Trading Post, down two blocks. We then talked about the polar bear in the lobby. It is standing upright, and HUGE. She said that while she was on a recent vacation it had been damaged. The claws of one front paw had been taken out and the other paw had been cut and was now hanging. Poor bear.

I went to the Trading Post. Quite an amazing souvenir shop with lots of Inuit carvings, books, clothing, including kamiks and slippers and boots of all kinds, but not many of the cheap souvenirs you find in normal stores. I was totally surprised at the price of the carvings. This is just out of the north and prices were 5-6 times what they were in Rankin. However, they did have some hand towels with dog teams and polar bears on them that I did purchase. Next I walked along the main street, and in the middle of town came to some welcome to Churchill signs. It seemed surprising that they were here, until I realized that most people arrived in this town by train. From here you could also see the Port building. All the boats travelling to northern hamlets leave from this Port, so quite a bit of freight travels through here.

The train station was in the middle of town. So, my next walk was to the Train Station museum. This is a national historic site. That means government hours, and not open on the weekend. I do wonder how a site that makes it profit, or loss, on tourists would not be open on weekends, except of course, it is the slow season and winter. Turned out there was a hockey tournament in town this weekend, though, and that I was lucky to have a room. The town was completely booked up!

Next was lunch. The desk clerk had said there were about three restaurents open in town. The plane crew, who were stationed there, told me about two. One was in the hotel I was staying in and the other was down the street. I headed down the street, and had a lovely salad. Then headed for the Eskimo Museum.

Again, I realized it was the off season, and a weekend. The Eskimo Museum was not open until 13:00 and I was a few minutes early. Decided to walk up to what looked like an old building. Turned out it was actually a new outbuilding of some kind, but it was on snowmobile and walking trails. Really they were not walking trails though because this is where I encountered the "Polar Bear Alert" signs, and I could see that they were every hundred feet or so along the trail. Oh well, back to the Eskimo Museum.

This is a museum that is worthwhile for anyone to see. There were children there, and adults and all seemed to be enjoying it. Mostly it is showing the history of the Inuit through their carvings. Of course, some of them were hunting scenes, and some were the ends of harpoons and fish harpoons. It was VERY interesting. They also had some sculptures depicting scenes, which were likely made in Rankin, as this is the area where pottery was developed, and that only since the 1970's. In the area of the gift shop they again had lots of small carvings. I had already purchased similar small carvings in Rankin but the prices were about 4 times higher in Churchill.

I walked around town. Had been told to go to the "Centre". It is actually the area where the hospital (10 beds), the school and the shops, other than groceries were. Really about four small stores, including the liquor store, in one small building. After wandering around this area and recognizing how much better the housing and store construction were than further north I headed back to the hotel. Was exhausted and decided that a cup of tea was in order. Went to the hotel cafe and had a veggie burger and tea. Read my book and then paid, bought a scratch and win (which are not available in Rankin) crossword and went back to the lobby. Scratched my ticket and won $5, so went back to the cafe and got $2 and another ticket. Went back to the lobby and scratched. I won $10 this time, so back to the cafe and got $7 and a ticket. Back to the lobby and scratched. Won $20. Back to the cafe and picked up $17 and a ticket. Back to the lobby and did not win. So read my book until my ride came. He was early because he had boxes that had to be checked in at the aeroport. That worked out well for me. The caffeine in the tea was just kicking in and I was waking up.

We drove to the aeroport, and he pointed out the bear jail to me. There is a small sign on it with a bear behind bars, but since tourists are not allowed near, there is no other indication of what this large quanset building is. The terminal building has a display of a few artifacts from the area. There are pictures of Fort Churchill. One artist called "We are Bears" sells nice polar bear jewellry when the flights come in. And they put out coffee and sometimes cookies for passengers who are waiting for flights.

As we were taxiing there was a beautiful sunset...starting pink and then a beautiful full red. It was a lovely end to the day in Churchill.

Global warming is definitely having an effect in this area. Several times I heard comments and worry about the warm temperatures. It was actually slushy while I was there, and that was early March. The locales were concerned about the number of bears that would be coming in, and that they would be coming much earlier than usual. As we flew over the Hudson's Bay there was open water very close to the shore. Bears hunt from the edge of the floes, and if they are close to any town they will come in to the garbage dumps. (I am told by the Inuit that you can tell from pictures, where bears are from. If they have a yellowish tinge you know that they are from near Churchill, because they are eating garbage and now seals. If they eat mostly seals they are much whiter, and the whitest, in pictures are usually from Repulse Bay or north of the Arctic Circle).

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Medevac Trip

Friday I was on first call.

One of our women went into possible labour at 35 +6 weeks. She had to be medevaced out. As the flight nurse was not sure if the woman would deliver on the plane or not, she asked for a midwife to accompany them. Our supervisor said yes, as there were five of us last week, and I was on my way. When there is a possibility of a birth, the flight nurses ask for a midwife or a second flight nurse to accompany them. (For anyone who has not been reading my previous notes you will need to know that a hospital is usually about 3 1/2 hours away in Winnipeg. As this baby was unlikely to need a NICU the client would be able to deliver in Thompson. Everybody who goes into labour prior to 37 weeks has to be assessed and if time permits, sent to a hospital with obstetrics, for delivery. Usually the women here deliver very quickly, so there is very often not time to send them "out".)

It turned out that this particular flight was coming from Baker Lake, with a patient for Rankin. (Now that we have four inpatients at Rankin, the hospital takes patients that need observation. They hope that the ten bed ward will eventually be fully open.)

The flight crew, on the medevac plane was based in Churchill, so I had been told that I would go with them, and our patient, to Thompson, Manitoba, and then we would fly to Churchill, and I would spend the night there. I considered myself very lucky that they booked me a hotel room. They also phoned me and told me how to contact the night clerk, as we would not arrive until at least 1am and the hotel was closed prior to that.

The flight nurse arrived, and our lady in labour was having fewer contractions. For all you midwives reading this, we now had a baseline fetal heart rate of 175-180. The client was unhappy about having to go to Thompson, but as we watched the baseline climb from 140 to 180, we were very glad we had organized the medevac.

Medevac planes are small. As you can see from the photographs with this post, there is room on one side for the flight nurse, and two other people, often another flight nurse and an escort. On the "business" side of the plane there is a stretcher with the patient, and another stretcher, which could have a patient, or, as on this flight, a baby pod. If you look past the patient you see most of the back of the plane where the baggage and extra medical equipment is stored. In one of the other photos you can see the pilot and copilot. The patient is attached to a blood pressure cuff, an oxymeter, and an IV pump. They have lots of other equipment, so they can take all kinds of different traumas. This particular flight nurse was a trauma/ER/ICU specialist. We had lots to talk about on this particular flight.

We left Rankin health centre at 19:00. We arrived in Thompson about 21:30. A proper ambulance picked us up. (In Winnipeg we get met by a private ambulance service.) The firefighter who was driving had a fair bit of information about the city. The population is 15,000. It has most of the facilities of a larger city, as it is the largest centre of northern Manitoba.

A medevac team is on the ground for 2 1/2 hours at the most. We went to the hospital, watched the nurse start an NST and admission, the flight nurse did a bunch of paperwork, we said good-bye, and left. The cab took us to TIM HORTON's. It was lovely, a sandwich and a decaf. Back to the aeroport. Apparently things changed re: where the flight crew went. The nurse was just back from her "time south" and did not know that they were using a different area of the terminal. We spent half an hour trying to figure out where we were supposed to be, being found by the co-pilot, and boarding the plane. It was only an hour to Churchill. (No wonder they did not want to take me the two hours back to Rankin and then go to Churchill. More important they would have timed out. They are only allowed to fly a certain number of hours.)

At Churchill the flight team had to get the plane into a hanger, and reload and unload medical items. It was REALLY interesting. The hanger already had a plane in it, and a large, unlicensed, Suburban type vehicle. It turned out this truck was to pull the plane!

The hanger doors went up. The pilot pulled the plane into the hanger. The doors were closed. The oxygen was checked. The baby pod was removed (as it belonged in Rankin and not in Churchill) and we got supplies onto the plane. The team then drove me into Churchill, and told me all the good things to see.

My flight the next day was not until 18:00 so I was able to do something else on my bucket list. I had always wanted to explore Churchill Manitoba, and thanks to the medevac, I was going to have this dream come true.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Beautiful End to a Wonderful Day

This beautiful sunset was the end to this wonderful day. It did not start auspicously. The "Severe wind chill warning" was over. Mind you, as I checked the weather before work this morning, it was -38 degrees Celsius, with a wind chill of -52. I think that maybe it has to be more than -55 to be severe!!

I was up early so had time to check the weather. Our Supervisor, Chris, arrived back from New Zealand yesterday, and we had signed her, and ourselves, up for a day long workshop called "Coaching Practices on Tackling High Workload". It sounded very good when we registered for it, and it was suggested that as many of us as possible take it.

At 8am I used the remote starter to start the car. It tried hard to turn over, but could not. (Yesterday I had plugged it in at work, with one of the electrical cables there, and the one in the back of the car "disappeared", so last night had plugged it into a cable that works, but that the car plug did not plug into well. Usually attached the shorter one to the longer one, and knew it worked.) So, went outside and tried to start the car with the key. That also did not work. Luckily Chris lives very close to Diane and I, so she would take us to work.

We arrived to lovely Christmas gifts that Chris had brought us from New Zealand. For me a pen with sheep on the end was the greatest. She also brought Kiwi candy for all of us to share.

At 9:00 we went to the workshop. Although we were the first people registered, they had none of our names. However, they made the best of it as there were four midwives, one support staff, and one maternity care worker. They made us nametags, for the tables, and adapted well. Then the workshop started. Must say it was amazing. If anyone gets a chance to take it...DO. It was put on by the Canadian School of Public Service, and content was really good.

The best exercise was each person taking a complaint they would like to make, and a second person, who was an interviewer, asking questions, so that the complaint turned into a request. The most amazing thing was that the anger we had at our complaints dissipated with the questions, and became a much more energized and positive request. Although not surprised by this, it was really fun to feel and see it happening.

At lunch I tried to call Huka, the mechanics here, and see if they could jump start the Vitara, which we, somewhat affectionately, call the Shitara. Like most cars here it is missing pieces, due to weather losses, and as needed a lot of repairs recently.

Had already decided that we needed to get to Umingmak to get a new electric cable and also a dowl, to hang my new wall hanging today. Did not want to risk the car not starting again tomorrow.

Call came from Huka at 4ish to say that they had needed to tow the car in, heat it up for 45 minutes, and then start it. It was plugged in, and they would leave it going until I got there. Workshop did not end until 16:30, so knew that it should be warm when I got there. It was. I drove to Umingmak and left the car going while I went inside. This is normal, and two trucks were outside the store also running, although Umingmak really looks like a big warehouse, with a tiny door, and no windows, rather than a southern store. Was able to get both the dowl and the cable. Decided that I needed to drive a lot further to keep the car going and ended up seeing this beautiful sunset.

Was near the aeroport...well really everything is near the aeroport, since it is at the top of the town, and Rankin Inlet is only a mile from side to side, with aeroport atthe south of town, and ocean, or at this time of year sea ice, at the north. Took two lovely pictures of the sunset.

Realized that one really needs to be careful when taking pictures at -38 degrees. I did not have on my hat or mitts when I took the first, and the 30 seconds was quite unbearable. Hands did not move well when I returned to the car. Second photo I had my hat on, and it was still VERY cold on the hands. It took about 20-30 seconds only.

You are problably wondering what made this day special. The coaches at the workshop commented on waking up this morning and seeing the light and the space. It is something that we need to be reminded of, although it is here every day now. At 7 the sun is not up, but it is light and beautiful colours abound. There are no trees, and the horizon is white, with colours reflected from it. Sunset, as you can tell, at 17:00 ish is also very beautiful. The other amazing thing, for me, today was the workshop. It is one where you take your thoughts of, why am I managing, and how am I managing, and what am I doing, and leave with a much better idea of how to handle situations, and also where you are going.

Sometimes it is surprising how an inauspicous day can turn so quickly into a day of wonderment, beauty and self learning.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

February 20th...a perfect day to be a Midwife

Some days I wonder why I am doing this job, and other days I know it is a vocation. Today is the latter. The call came at 04:44. An auntie was calling for her neice who was in labour. How far apart are the contractions...three minutes...I'll meet you at the health centre. Second call came about three minutes later from the ambulance service sayiing someone had just called them about someone in labour. Could I call this number please. Of course, and luckily, it was the ssame woman. Called the second Midwife because she has asked to have at last twenty minutes to have a shower before she has to come. As the client was a gravida 8, para 6, with a last labour of 45 minutes, we knew she would unlikely take long.
Car was warming up, I was washed, and off to the halth centre. Nurses upstairs was all excited that we were going to have a birth. She had worked in Inuvik in Labour and Delivery. Nobody else was around.
Client arrived and was seven centimetres dilated. Perfect. Got her settled, basically walking the halls, and went to get her some water. (The kitchen was now clean and organized. When I was in during the evening, with another client, water was flowing out of the wall coffee maker at a remarkable rate. It was all over the floor and through the cupboards. Not sure what was wrong, but eventually we discovered who should be called, and they much have come, cause it was all cleaned up).
At six am she had not had her baby. I was in our postpartum room. Looking out the window, one could see the sunrise starting...not that the sun was rising yet, but the beautiful colours on the horizen were lovely...purples/pinks and yellows.
She had her baby at 6:30. Loevely birth on her hands and knees. Half an hour later shew as ready to leave the centre, but we keep everyone there for three hours. She left at 9:30, and I went home.
A flat mate had arrived the night before, and we almost walked into each other as I walked into the main part our our town house. She told me she had been quiet, so she would not wake me, since she had woken up, and had not put on the washing because she did not want to wake me. How hilarious. We talked for a few minutes, and she was off to get her plane. Put the laundry in the dryer, had a lovely vegetarian fry up for breakfast, and went to lye down, expecting to play sudoku and read my book. Was I wrong. Half an hour later I was asleep.
Now it is a beautiful day. Have to go visit Mum and babe at 5, have slept for 2 hours, and am looking at a beautiful Arctic day. It is clear, visibility is unlimited, although since the tundra is flat, that is not really that far, and it is -30 so nice and crisp. It is now still light at 5pm, and living here is thoroughly enjoyable.
As a Midwife it is hard to resist a day like this.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

My First Blog

I have been wanting to make my own blog for several years. Thought it would be hard and probably not worth it. It is not so that anyone will read it, but rather, so that I have a place to put my thoughts.
It is called "Adventures and other Bits of Life". It made me think about what adventures really are, and what life really is.
My guess is that adventures can be anything happening to anyone. What is an adventure to me, may not be an adventure to the next person, but what is "life" to me, has to be "life" to the next person. It is not about "good" life or "bad" life, but about all life.
Adventures, can be good or bad. I had a very bad adventure today. It would not have mattered to many, yet, just a small thing that has me flustered, and thinking of crying, and wanting to go and walk and walk and walk. Only it is cold out. And my knee is not so good today. And probably I could come up with at least three or four more reasons for not really going for a walk. There is also the fact that I am on call, and so may not be able to get back quickly enough. (A guffaw needs to be put in here. I am in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, and the whole town is less than one mile from side to side. There are a few outlying cabins, but most are not used at this time of year. It is winter. They don't have heat. This is the Arctic).
So back to Bits of Life. Guess these could be great, or good...which is what I was thinking on the day I picked that title. Today they could be great, or good, or bad, or depressing, or pitiful. Will probably write the whole gamut at some point or the other. And they may also be interesting, or not. The advantage I see, of a blog, is that it is mine, and I can put in anything I want, at any time I want.
So, today, I am writing about adventures in general, and life, in less generalities, so I can depict what I might actually be going to write about. And now I know, that I am not sure. So hope that nobody reads this, and if they do, maybe it will be after "Adventures and other Bits of Life" knows where it is going??