First day down

Well, I survived my first day of placement! The Dryden hosptial is beautiful, and the people were extremely welcoming and friendly. It's interesting seeing how medicine is so different in a remote location. One of the most fascinating parts of our orientation was the tour of the telehealth room. Since specialists don't make it to the area very often (if ever) patients sometimes have to travel to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay for specialist consultations. We've all been to 5 minute visits with a specialist, and know how frustrating they can be. Can you imagine having to make a 2-day trip for the doctor's visit?

So, the solution they've come up with is networking Northern Ontario health facilities with videoconferencing. The room they use for this purpose was really cool looking, with tons of cameras and monitors. They actually have a stethescope that a nurse can hold to the patient's chest, and a cardiologist in Winnipeg or Toronto can listen on the other end!

I participated in my own videoconference today. My first one ever! We had a meeting with all the McMaster physiotherapy students currently doing placements in Northern Ontario (about 20 of us including first and second years) just discussing how things were going. At the end of the meeting, all the second years logged off, and we got to spend some time playing with the technology and generally joking around. We've decided to have a conference all together every Monday afternoon, so we can discuss how things are going and some of the cases we've been seeing.

What's new on the knitting front? I ended up not starting Clapotis during the Oscars. I was zipping along so nicely with the Pi are Squared shawl, I just didn't want to stop. So I'll keep going on this project until I feel that itch...you know the one...that GOT to start something new feeling. I'm expecting it to hit any day now.

I got a membership to the Dryden Recreation Centre tonight. They have a pool and a skating rink and a cardio room and a weight room. So I had a nice 90 minute workout tonight. Not to mention the 20 minute walk to and from. Dryden isn't much of a pedestrian town. Only about half the roads have sidewalks, and it seems pretty random which roads those are. And sometimes you can't even TELL if there is a sidewalk behind the 6 foot snowdrifts. I feel like I'm a little kid again, with snow piled up over my head. But even without sidewalks, it's a lovely walk, and kind of a handy warmup and cool down! The boots are going to be very handy for my 40 minutes of walking every day.

So, between knitting and working out, I'm going to be a very buff, well dressed girl when I get back to Toronto! I may forget how to mix a martini (*gasp*) and hail a taxi downtown at last call, but I'll just have to work hard to relearn it when I get back. Any volunteers to help remind me?