Always Pack a Candle: a Nurse in the Cariboo-Chilcotin by Marion McKinnon Crook

Author:Marion McKinnon Crook [Crook, Marion McKinnon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Health Care, Nursing, Canada
ISBN: 9781772033632
Publisher: Heritage House
Published: 2021-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TWO HUNDRED MILES INTO THE CHILCOTIN

WE HAD our usual monthly health unit staff meeting the first Monday of December to plan our upcoming work, and, since Christmas holidays fell in this period, we sorted out the assignments. Most of the staff would be away for at least a week, and we needed to plan for the continuity of services. We had to consider the weather. Another drift of clouds had left snow over the Cariboo country, just enough to cover the fields but not enough to impede driving. The Department of Highways sent graders out to the country roads and cleared them. I hadn’t had to use my chains for weeks, but winter would become more intense and make it more difficult to travel.

Rita coordinated our schedules. “Highways does a good job,” she said, “as long as they don’t get a huge dump of snow in a short period. If that happens, it might take them days to get out to some of the more rural roads. Travel to your country districts before we get that snow.”

“I’m going east in the third week of the month,” I said.

“That’ll work. Get Ellie to send out messages to announce the clinics, so the people know you’re coming. They might not be expecting you because no one does any business around Christmas.”

I had a vision of Williams Lake totally quiet—no traffic, no people in the streets, just the pale winter light and deep snow. I’d planned to take the week between Christmas and New Year’s as holiday time to go home to my parents. Carl would have Christmas with his parents—not that I’d worry about him. I might miss him, though. Dorrie was going home too, and Sam was going to visit her for a few days after Christmas.

Rita scanned the papers in front of her. “Someone has to go out to the Chilcotin soon. They haven’t had any service this fall because we’re one nurse short. We’ll get a new nurse in January, but I need a volunteer for a four-day trip out to Anahim Lake and back—as soon as next week.” She looked directly at me. The other nurses were married with families. I was the one who could spare four days away from home.

“Fine,” I said, accepting the inevitable.

“Are you sure?” Rita asked me.

“Yes,” I said with more enthusiasm. “It will be an adventure.” This wasn’t really a choice. She was couching it respectfully, but there was a directive behind that request—she was my boss.

“Be sure you . . .”

“Pack a candle,” we chanted together. It was a joke now—that the only equipment we had to fight off death by freezing was a candle.

“Stay on the main roads,” Rita cautioned. “Don’t go off visiting ranches in the back of beyond, because if you get stuck in a snowbank no one will know you are there.”

I nodded. No one carried any kind of communication except truckers and police who had radios. When I was in my car, miles from anywhere, I was truly alone.

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