It's another world...

Well I am beginning to feel a bit more at home here. It is definitely a place that I could live for a while...

There are jobs for nurses in the community as well as at the hospital. I spent a day with the Community Health Nurse (CHN) Which is an employee of Health Canada and her colleague who does similar work but is employed by the Band. They are like a combination Public Health Nurse and visiting Community Nurse. They do all of the vaccinations in the community including scheduled childhood immunization, tetanus and flu. They also monitor and dispense the medications for clients with TB since the antibiotic therapies are so complex and can cause so many complications and interactions that successful treatment is infinitely better with what is known as DOT or "direct observed therapy". There are so many wonderful, warm people here. Once you adjust to the cultural differences - which I am only in the early stages of. The Cree philosophy is one of sharing. There is no need to say 'thank-you' because I would do the same for you. it definitely takes some getting used to. What one might initially perceive as rudeness, is more often shyness or simply how things are done here. Eye contact is not as common here but once your face has become more familiar, you are often met with a big smile and sparkling brown eyes. The young mothers still wrap babies in laced up papooses; although they are most often fashioned from modern fabric, the lacing is still made from moose, deer or cariboo hide. Speaking of cariboo - we had a potluck lunch on Friday and one of the dishes was pasta and vegetables with cariboo meat - yummeeeee! Most of you know I am a foodie and this was a great mix of cultural cuisine. We have staff that hail from all over the world - India, Philipines, Cape Verde (of the coast of Africa below the Canary Islands), Ghana. Along with the cariboo, some highlights were moose stew, a Philipino noodle dish, and Indian dessert made with cocnut milk, cardamom and noodles - then there was chicken wings and even pizza. Wow- what a treat!! I had the opportunit to try out a local restaurant - I must take a picture - it is a typical shoe-box bungaloo with peeling siding and boarded up windows. I probably would never had tried it if I had not been with the CHN. I had the best cup of coffee I have had since I boarded the plane in Timmins and took home a turkey dinner with all the fixin's that would have rivaled Grandma's (at least it tasted that way at the time - sorry Grammie). Ther had to be a hlaf pound of turkey, 2 scoops of mashed, dressing, cranberries, carrots - all for the very reasonable price - especially here - of $14 including tax (no tax on the reserve of course). One sad story (there are many but most I cannot discuss); they had a "dog shoot" the other day. I happens once in a while when the stray dogs get too numerous and start to 'pack up' and will attack other dogs or even people if you saw the new a few weeks back where a kid was killed on a reserve I believe in Saskatchewan. Sadly, the lovely Malamute husky that was known as the nurses' dog was one of the casualties. We all are heartbroken. Apparently there was a notice posted but not advanced enough that any of the staff saw it or someone would have ensured he was kept indoors for the day. He used to come in for short visits but due to his formidable fur coat, only like to stay long enough for a treat and a little love then he would return to the great outdoors. He is missed - the picture above is of him curled up in a snow storm. He often would crawl out of a hole in a snowbank to join you on your walk to or from the hospital.