First Impressions

Working in the far north has a charm all its own. I have the privilege of travelling to a tiny community in Nunavut every 6 to 8 weeks to deliver physiotherapy services at the health center and school there. I had my eye on this job for a few years, and phoned the hiring office every few months to see if it was available. My lucky break happened almost 2 years ago, and I have been loving it ever since.

We fly up in a small 8-seater single engine plane. The journey takes anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours, depending on the prevailing winds. Of course, sometimes the journey is much longer, especially if we have to wait a day or two for howling blizzards to stop. One thing you can count on here is the wind. Living on a treeless island in the middle of Hudson's Bay means there is not much shelter from the elements.

We stay at "the" hotel. Clean, comfortable, friendly people. $200.00 per night plus $60.00 a day for food. The food is excellent, and the lunch-time cook now knows that we like salad. No more deep-fried everything offerings from him.

The staff at the health center consists of 3 nurses and a social worker. The rest of us (physio, occupational therapy, physicians, dentists, etc) pop in and out. It makes for an interesting job - you never know who is going to be there, but you can pretty much count on meeting a lot of fascinating people. Fascinating in every sense of the word.

This last week was no exception. On the plane with us was a social worker, going in for 2 weeks to provide services while the regular social worker is on vacation. In the first 3 hours, we received the following information from him:

1. His only motivation for working in the north is the money.
2. His assumption is that all of us share the same motivation. (I actually make the same amount of money in my other jobs.)
3. He is 41 years old, a Sagitarious, and not married.
4. He needs to lose weight.
5. He likes to eat his meals in front of the television.
6. Television and food make him happy.
7. His specialty is mental health.
8. The hotel is much too far away from the health center (an 8-minute walk.)

Well, you can guess what kind of first impression he made on most of us. The hours of raised voices I had to listen to in the health center as he dealt with community issues didn't do much to change his image.

First impressions.