couple minutes out from GR

our airport and runway

It's beautiful up here. The community is surrounded by forest, with a creek and a great big river running right beside the community. I think the trees are some kind of aspen...? and with the load of snow we just got, the forests around us look winter wonderland-ish.

There are closer to 700 people living in the community with a rough estimate of maybe 75 of either houses, trailers, or little wood cabins (gives a bit of an idea how crowded living conditions are). I live in a pretty decent triplex.. very 70's-ish, with the clinic a quick 3 minute drive away. There's quite a few dogs around, providing an intermittent chorus of barking to serenade throughout the day/night.    

 


The clinic itself is quite a bit larger than I expected. It has only two actual exam rooms but a fair size emergency, several offices, a pharmacy, lab, and quite a few other random rooms. Things are pretty laid back at the clinic. A large majority of the community only starts waking up in the afternoon (they seem to have days and nights reversed) which makes afternoons more steady as far as seeing patients goes. We see any and whatever medical "concern" that comes in. We do what we can to treat.. and for the (many) things we can't do much for we stabilize and send the patient out either by taxi or plane.  

the nursing post

the "emergency bay"

the emergency department

pharmacy

We work from 8:30 to 5:00 and everybody takes turns going on first or second call from 5:00pm to 8:30 am (us new nurses have been cut a bit of slack and have yet to be given "call"... next week though...). I think a large portion of the people here speak English but Cree is the main language and it's not uncommon to need a translator at times. Seat-belts, carseats, speed limits and helmets among other things all seem to be quite optional here, especially with the nearest law enforcement being two hours away. From what's been said about the other reserves we will be going to, this is a good one to start in.