Back to Basics

I'm having a problem. I have so much to say, I don't really know where to start?

This past week has been crazy in the most peaceful way. (If you can make sense of that.)
I guess I'll start with the biggest topic - WORK.
Yes, I started my job last Monday and it was... well... different. For those of you living outside Nunavut, anything you think is required to create a working environment, just swipe it from your thought process right now. It may help you better understand my experience. To back-track a little, let me start by telling you what I do. I got hired through the Government of Nunavut to be second in charge of our health centre, otherwise known as our mini-hospital. (and yes, I went to school to be able to do this job) :) We call it a health centre because even though it has two floors, a fully functioning maternity ward, a mini emergency department and specialist clinics running in it - it's not really big enough to be considered a hospital. Any major emergencies get medi-vac'd out to YellowKnife, but for the most part, we just take care of it. My first day at work was so interesting. I came in at 8:30 and was pleasantly greeted by everyone, and walked into my office only to find that the cupboards were all open with things falling out of them, there were papers all over my desk, boxes of crap in the corner and then these weird inboxes filled with paper that for all I knew, could've been there for years.
Project number 1 - clean office. Then I went in search for my supervisor, (I still don't know where her office is?) and when I tracked her down in the hallway, I proceeded to ask her who was training me. I got this "Ummm...what?" look from her and then she responded by saying "What do you mean?...You can just do whatever you want." This response may excite some of you, but for me, in a new town, unsure of how things really run, I would rather have a higher power that I'm supposed to report to. I still think that if I'm working for the government there must be weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly reports that I need to hand in. Anyways... I realized pretty quickly that she would not be my most valuable resource - so that's when I came up with Project number 2 - introduce myself to every staff member and get a feel for what they do, what some of the common problems are and what the person before me was doing. It gave me a good chance to sit and talk with everyone, see who I could trust to give me real answers and not just that, but get a good feel for the main team I would be managing which is the admitting staff. I could see their lack of motivation and their frustration from the second they came into work that morning. This worried me, because I figured I had one chance to reach out to them and if I screwed it up, the rest of my days in the hospital would be doomed. Project number 3 - observe very closely from my office all the happenings in the front; staff's behaviour toward one another, patients, and medical staff; secondly, go through every inch of paperwork in my office to see if I can find any treasures from the lady that was here before me. This final task was the most successful because what I learned was that the lady who did the job before worked as a casual, coming and going every few months, and she was an ogre. Even the notes in her book were mean. It didn't take long for me to figure out that these guys had been crapped on frequently, had loads of changes thrown at them, and then had no supervision to follow-through and make sure the changes worked. Not to mention, every change she had implemented infantilized them. I went home that night and felt pretty down. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't want to rush it or find out that I had read the whole thing wrong, and it's pretty common here to have staff not show up for work on a regular basis. The key is to be over-staffed just in case. I must've really been going through all of this in my head while I was sleeping because I woke up at 1:30am with an idea. I sighed a big breath of relief, and wished really hard that it would work and went back to sleep.
That morning I let a couple hours pass to make sure I was on the right track and then I pulled up my email. I sent out a team email thanking everyone for being so welcoming and warm to me, and stated how I noticed that there clearly had been a lot of people in my position before who were coming in and making changes and then leaving; and informed them that I recognized how confusing and frustrating that must be for them. Then I proceeded to let them know that I planned on being here for a long period of time, and wanted their feedback as to what they like most, what they want to see change and any ideas they may have to make the working environment a better one. I let them know that my background was medical and they could ask any medical question they wanted and that I had been in their position before, doing their job and understood just how hectic it can be.
Well. 5 minutes after the email was sent, they were knocking on my door, asking questions, wanting to learn. I'm not sure why people who are put in a place of authority seem to always forget those simple rules - be kind, allow your employees to feel like they are part of the process, and listen to what they have to say. All this to say, that by the end of the week, they were asking for projects, training me in their positions, signing contracts to become permanent, full-time employees as oppose to casual employees. It's funny, because in a city setting, the stress of all the to-do's seem to cloud people's judgment about slowing down and taking the time to get to know your staff and find their strengths. Whereas here, life just moves so much slower, that you know that for the most part there's always tomorrow to finish up something that you couldn't get to.

In other news, the kids and I went for a walk earlier in the week, and came across this cute little husky puppy that decided to happily join us on our trek. However, within minutes of him joining us this super shaggy, huge dog came out and had clearly broken free as the rope that was holding him to some stationed post was all frayed and trailing behind him. As soon as he saw us he stopped and stared like he was ready to attack. (again my protective mama-bear hat went on) I stood waiting to do whatever I'd have to do, but the puppy jumped in front of me and was pushing me back and then he charged the other dog taking a chunk out of him until he ran off. I was so grateful for the little guy and his instinct to protect us even though he didn't know us; and what was even sweeter was that he walked us all the way back to our house until we got to the steps and then just left. Even Sophia, who's petrified of dogs, kept saying "nice puppy" and had no problem with him. Every morning when I walk to work, I hope that I'll run into him to give him a little snuggle.

Today was my first ever time heading out to get groceries with a quad. It was so fun putting my pack on my back and gearing up for a nice ride in the fresh air, and then getting to the store needing a week's worth of fresh food and having to cleverly figure out how it was all going to fit in my pack. All in all, it was very successful and made me feel that much more rugged living in the North. :)

The melting has continued like crazy. The lake in our backyard is fully visible and the earth back there is amazing. It's all mossy and rocky and so different from anything I've ever walked on. Even spending summers in the Rockies, I've yet to see anything like this. It's pretty neat. I'll take pictures.

And lastly for this blog, our stuff has arrived. I never realized how much I would miss my stuff, but after having sold almost everything we own and keeping only the bare essentials, I realized that I really do miss my vacuum, mop, garbage cans, and the kids blankets. There's obviously other valuables coming like my awesome kitchen stuff, the kids bigger toys, and some new little gifts that I'll think they'll absolutely love. Anyways, any day now it'll get delivered, and I will finally be able to really make this place feel like home. I will post pics of our place after that.

Thanks for tuning into my very long blog tonight. I know I missed tons of stuff, but this is what came to mind.

Until next time....