The Story of Joannassie

Names have been changed.

There has been a sad story happening for the last couple of weeks. Joannassie is a young man in his early twenties who has been diagnosed with paranoid schyzophrenia. It is quite severe and he hears evil voices telling him to kill himself which has tried to do a couple of times. There are no psychological services hear in Salluit and the care is primarily through social services, nursing and the family physician. It is not enough.

He is very much liked by the staff here. Unfortunately his family is unable to provide him with the support he needs and he goes off his medication frequently. Last week his mother locked him in his room for three days and three nights without food or water. When he was brought to the nursing station, he was severely dehydrated and was kept over night on iv.

It was clear that more support was needed and so the nurses agreed to provide him with meals three times a day and a job was found for him a few hours a week with the community nurse so that he would be able to have his own money. His friend Odi who also works with the community nurse as an interpreter took him to the coop and helped him open an account and got him a bank card. This was he could by his own food.

Joannassie loved coming to work and had a good week.

Last weekend though, I was at the clinic and it turned out that he had been having a bad weekend and so was put in isolation. Isolation is the room outside my office door and it is a locked room with nothing in it but a mattress. It is primarily used for anyone who is on suicide watch. It is used quite frequently. Joannassie was kept there for the weekend until his meds kicked in I guess.

Unfortunately, when Odi who watching him he took him outside't for a smoke, Joannassie tried to take off (no shoes, no coat) and would have killed himself if Odi hadn't tackled him to the ground. Odi was trying to stop his freind from killing himself. Joannassie beat up Odi pretty badly waiting for the cops to come. I tried to help Odi but the nurses held me back.

They were finally able to medivac Joannassie to Montreal where he was to be put in a residential program. Good news I suppose in that he would at least be treated for his illness. Bad knews though as he would be even more isolated and not able to speak French or English very well.

Odi told me that he didn't care about his injuries he just wanted help his friend.

Turns out there was no room in the residential program. Six month waiting period.

Joannassi will return tomorrow.

Alot can happen in six months.

Polar Bears

There was a rumour last week that two polar bears were in the neighborhood. I have continued to go on my walk everyday but admittedly with some trepidation.

Yesterday when I arrived at work I found out the two bears had been hunted and their bodies would be arriving for the skinning ceremony. With much anticipation we waited and watched out the maternity window for the arrival of the ski-doos. They finally arrived mid morning and a few of us hopped in the truck to watch.

There were indeed two bears - a little one and the mother. The father had been killed the day before and had already been skinned and butchered.

We stayed and watched the skinning of the mother bear and took lots of pictures. It was a beautiful sunny morning and there was certainly an air of celebration as more and more of the village made their way down to the ice.

The meat was butchered and what is not eaten fresh will be put in the storage freezer where any of the villagers can help themselves. This is the same for all of the meat and fish. There is a coop price given to the hunter or the fisherman and the food is then offered to any of the Inuk.

Tonight I will be going over to the docs house for bear stew. I will try it, I have to.

I feel a little like Michaelle Jean.

Pics to follow when I get back to Toronto.

Baby

Healthy baby boy born May 16th. Both mom and baby fine and healthy.

It was a long night and the wind and snow howled at around 70 km an hour outside the maternity. Out the window we watched the wind change direction and move completely from the south to the east to the north throughout the night. The sun came up around three.

As always, the baby was born in the wee hours of the morning. I was so excited to be able to turn the string of lights in the maternity window on to announce to the village that the baby had arrived.

As I looked out the window and down to the Hudson Strait I realized that the wind and snow had completely stopped. Completely. With the arrival of the baby, the storm disappeared.

Go figure.

Blizzard

It is day two of a massive blizzard that is not expected to let up until Sunday. All air travel (including medivac) has been shut down.

I have been trying to get a 19 year old pre-eclamptic women out since yesterday. I would have gotten her on an plane two days ago but she 'conveniently' disappeared for three days.

The decision has been made to induce her here rather than wait out the storm. Am feeling confident as we have an amazing team. Because of the storm, two visiting doctors have been stranded here including a pediatrician. The nurses are very excited about having a baby tonight.

It's hard not to feel excited too when you have a team behind you who are excited and supportive and skilled.

It was Maggie the senior Inuit student who reminded me of this.

Miracle Worker

I asked and he came. Well I sort of dragged him from his truck, fed him wine and he fixed most of my things. I still don't have cable or the internet but at least I can eat and shower.

Yesterday I spent the day flying across the coast with a medivac of a 34 week pregnant woman threatening preterm labour. The plane was delayed on the tarmac because of mechanical issues as her contractions got closer together but we made it to PUV in time to transfer her. Exciting day and I made it back in the evening on the next flight out. She is to remain in PUV where they were able to stop her labour but will be watched for a few days.

Beautiful sunny day here today and about -18 with the wind chill. They keep promising me that the snow will melt quickly once the weather warms up. It should given that it is light now for about 19 hours a day.

Roughing it.

Here are some pics of my beautiful house. The house is so big that I have a yoga studio. Unfortunately, I have no stove, no microwave, no tv/cable, no internet, no hot water and no blinds on the windows. I don't know how many more toasted bagels I can eat. I am going to get some towels on my bedroom window because the sun is rising at about 4:20 and my body is telling me to get up and start drinking coffee.

I am moving from somewhat bummed to somewhat depressed but surely help will arrive soon in the form of a capable electrician/plumber/cable guy.

On a more positive note, I was warmly welcomed be everyone here and it felt good to be back. If I wasn't on call this weekend, I would have been off on a fishing weekend with my adventurous friend Kelly and some Inu. Kelly ate raw fish head and ptarmigan intestines and said she had the best weekend of her entire life.

Ok apparently I can't upload pics at the moment - sorry, hopefully coming soon.

Spring in Salluit

I'm back for a five week stint. Much harder for the kids and Alex to say goodbye this time as the novelty of "mummy going to the arctic" has worn off.

Although it is technically the beginning of spring, currently there is a pretty impressive storm happening and it is about -17. By the time I leave, the snow will be gone and the ice will start its steady retreat.

Everyone in the village is itching to get out fishing and many villagers have gone camping this weekend on a fishing trip.

No signs of the caribou but tens of thousands are expected soon.

Been busy at the maternity with a medivac for a probable appendicitis late last night. Have a 34 weeker threatening preterm labour with increasing blood pressure so could be a busy weekend and one woman is showing ominous signs of an MS diagnosis. I feel more like a GP than a midwife today.

I am sitting in my old apartment stealing the internet as my internet is not up and running in the newly renovated (and spacious) midwife's house. No cable yet either, and the burners on the brand new stove went caput in the middle of my curry. Somewhat bummed.

No pics yet - sorry.