Orientation, Moose, and Gold!

Well, Wesley just drove away for work making this our first night apart in Nome. He started work today and I start tomorrow. Well, we have already started work this is just us actually starting nursing work after hospital orientation. I thought I would take this time to get caught up with my blog!

Lets see...

Monday of last week started our hospital orientation. It was great! We had a lot of fun getting to know everyone and getting oriented to the hospital. We got to go around to every department of the hospital for specific orientation to each department. I thought this was so beneficial because we learned what everyone is going through from the housekeepers to the lab workers. Since we are going to be working nights, we have to run our own labs. We get to spin them in the centerfuge...I've always wanted to do that! We get to run our own pregnancy tests, drug screens, etc. It should be interesting!

We used to complain about the cafeteria at our old hospital being expensive and charging for every little thing, but MAN I wish we could have those prices again! haha Wesley and I ate lunch at the cafeteria every day last week and we spent about $25 each day! That was just for like a small salad, piece of meatloaf, and some corn. We bought drinks the first couple days until we realized there was free water. One day I got soup, and each pack of crackers I wanted was $0.25 each!! So, yea... I'm glad we will get to be working at night and that will not be open!

We watched a lot of movies about hospital specific protocols and policies and had a test about each one. That really wasn't that bad. The computer system they use is called Meditech, so it is something we are not familiar with, but I don't think it will be too hard. We will be doing paper charting and just using the computer to order things, which the secretary usually does anyway.

The 3rd day at work, Wednesday, I, being my clumsy self, tripped over my own shoe while standing still and crashed into a chair and desk. haha They made me fill out an incident report even after I swore I was ok! I felt so embarrassed! A couple bruises on my back and leg later, and I'm good as new! haha The only thing hurt was my pride.

Thursday, we went to a new friend's house. Her name is Libby. We met a ton of people from work and it was so much fun. We had a "make your own kabob" party out of MOOSE! Todd, a nurse from Talledega, had Dale's sauce shipped in from the lower 48 and marinated the moose in that. It tasted just like beef. We also had margaritas, which of course made me think of my mom cause they used Jose'! (Which cost $70 by the way) We still haven't got used to the prices here! It was a great party and there were tons of people there! We have started to make some great friends here already.

After we left Libby's house, we went over to Mollie's house and she showed us around a little. She lives right on the beach which is also where the Iditarod dogsleds park every year. She let us borrow a few books about Alaska and a place called King's Island. There used to be a community that lived there, but you could only reach it by barge and it just got too expensive to take care of them, so those people all had to move to Nome. It's really interesting if you want to research it. Mollie took us over to this little Russian store and we looked at some of his stuff. Carvings, furs, books, you name it, he had it! He closed at 11pm so we left after that and just talked for awhile. It's so weird that the sun doesn't go down here... you don't get tired!

Friday, we had to do a hospital-wide orientation from 8-5 and then we were headed to Cripple River Gold Camp. People from all over the states come to Cripple River to pan for gold each summer. I think they have 6 weeks of sessions. One man told us it was about $1800 a week per person to come pan for gold. You probably make that much back in the gold you get though. Wesley and I have thought about doing it...maybe next year. Anyway, each Friday night during those 6 weeks, they invite the people of Nome to a spaghetti dinner to interact with the campers and make it "real" for them I guess! haha Since we are "locals" now, we were invited! A lot of the same people from the last night came to this.



Whale Spine



We took about a 15 mile beach ride on the 4 wheelers to get there! We had to ford a river, which was scary and so much fun! We saw a baby seal on the beach jump back into the water and we saw a whale spine. Wesley cut a piece of the vertebrae off for my dad. The blubber and everything was still there... I'll admit that it was kinda gross! We rode through the surf on the way back and our poor 4 wheeler was smoking like crazy... not too sure how much longer it will last, but that's a different story!

So we made it to the camp with half of my body soaking wet and freezing from the river! This camp was awesome! It reminded me of an old Western town. The buildings were wooden and had that "saloon" shape to them. We ate the spaghetti dinner in a mess hall and talked to all kinds of folks... mainly from Washington and the middle US. After that, we checked out the medic cabin. It was so cool. Just really simple. Todd, the nurse from AL, is on the med-evac team too, and he said they put a chest tube in there last year! Wesley is going to sign up to take some flight nurse call when he gets done with training. He is very excited!

After that, they brought out the gold for us to look at and take pictures of! It was really cool seeing the gold in real life. How they divide up the gold between all the campers is by raffle. Each person gets a ticket and on Friday night, they call out the numbers and you get a nugget associated with that number...biggest to smallest. Each person also gets a tube of gold dust, so it evens out cause the person with the smallest nuggest gets the biggest tube.

On the way back home to Nome, we had an awesome ride on the beach! Wesley let me drive on the way back and it was much more fun to ride! It is so much colder in the front though so you have to bundle up with goggles, hat, gloves, etc. Wesley and I have been investigating gear online, so we will be ordering some soon!

The rest of the weekend up till now we have just been cleaning the apt, walking on the beach, and just lolligagging around. We went to the grocery store and stocked up. We used some coupons Emily Wells sent us, so SHOUT OUT to her! :) Thanks! We stayed up really late last night so we could get ready for night shift!

Till Next Time,

Maddie and Wesley