Flying solo with training wheels

Flying solo with Training wheels

Well, day one working in the clinic today with my bride.  A unique experience.  Annie the former permanent nurse had today and yesterday to pack, and get around the community and say her good byes.  Jo and I turned up this morning after a restless night, and the clinic had a patient.  An elder had had an altercation with a family member , alcohol was involved, a sad messy situation which I wont bore anyone with details suffice to say that he was offered a safe house last night, and needed respite and placement to be organised today.  How amazing is it that on Joanne’s first solo day her first job was one that she can do in her sleep.  She was right into it, ringing this nursing home, and calling that HACC team; a real pig in mud!  Here I was stressing about how she will embrace island life as a Remote Area Nurse, and the realisation hits that is all the same nut, just a different palm tree.

The rest of our day was pretty much core business.  Jo and Susie played secret women’s business, with a woman that was newly diagnosed as pregnant.  Not my thing.  One of the confronting things here and something of a culture shock for Jo and I is the notion that terminating a pregnancy is considered a viable and normal contraception option.  Many young women (20’s) have had 5 or 6 children and probably more pregnancies.  When a woman is “late” and we test them as pregnancy positive, then the next question has to be “do you want to keep it?”  This really rubs us up the wrong way, not because we are placard waving pro-life activists, but because our value and upbringing has always placed abortion in the “taboo subject” category with alcoholism, suicide, depression, and Labor party supporting.  To have a woman not bat an eyelid when you ask them if they have considered an abortion is a bit confronting for us.

I hear you ...”so why do you even ask such a thing”?  you are saying!!  Well, if we get them before 9 weeks, it can be done with less fuss, a few tablets, and no- one needs to know.  If they want a termination later in the pregnancy, then it is an expensive trip to Cairns for a surgical procedure.

I had some pharmacy stuff to sort out today.  Our clinic has no working air conditioners.  One of the problems with this, other than the fact that it is starting to get hot up here, is that pharmacy items on the shelf need to maintain temps below 25 degrees.  With literally thousands of dollars of stock on the shelf, the product is likely to be unusable if we don’t get an air conditioner soon.

I also had a few psych patients to sort out.   We have visiting specialist teams come for a day to see patients, Diabetes educators, hearing teams, dental teams, and psych to name a few.  Well the psych team came yesterday, and that means that there was a bit of follow up and sorting to do today.  I was able to put on my psych nurse hat again and try my hand at some counselling.  It was a refreshing change from the norm.

Ben has been meeting with a dremel artist that carves shells, and coral.  He is the bloke that did the coconut husk beer steins a few nights back.  Ben has polished and cut some beautiful pearl shells, and is learning to carve.  He was gifted a piece of precious black coral, to add to his collection of geology specimens.  We went online to Ebay and bought Ben a dremel of his own, so I am looking forward to see what he does with his shells and some creativity.  Amy is meeting some of the local girls, playing chasing games, and swinging on an old rope swing in the common beach.  They (kids) seem to be occupying themselves while Jo and I work, and we are really proud of their resourcefulness.  Amy went to check out the play group this morning, and then after morning tea, decided to make pikelets for the staff at the centre.  She took them down to the conference room/tea room and wrote a sign on the white board.  “PICKLETS  HELP  YORSELF!”  it was too cute.   Lucy our health centre manager took a photo. 

Tonight Lucy has asked us to bring a plate to the conference room to celebrate Annie and Chris’s farewell.  Annie has been the nurse here for 2 years, and has really become a part of this small community.  She will be missed. Annie has been a big part of my orientation into RAN nursing in the Torres, and is one of my mentors, so I am honoured to have worked with her and proud to call her my friend.  Hers will be hard shoes to fill, and whilst Jo and I have the luxury of a well organised and well stocked clinic to take over, it is with some amazement that I reflect that for the most part of the last 2 years, Annie has been the only nurse here; a feat worthy of a mention.  I thought that is was fitting that I make my Coconut, and sweet potato chicken curry with fenugreek and black mustard.  Those that know my curries will recognise this as one of my favourite dishes, but one reserved for special occasions. 

Friday tomorrow, and the end of a random but exhilarating week.  Jo and I are going to try a bit of reef walking, and a bit of snorkelling.  Ben and I will try to catch some mackerel, and Jo and Amy will no doubt find an array of shells to add to their collection.  Happy times ahead on Erub.

Yawo!!