A New Look at the Old

The new Health Care Centre is now open in Grand Bank (see press release below) but local photographer Travis Parsons of Vinland Photography recently found himself lost in thought wandering the old cottage hospitial there-more images can be found on his Vineland Photography Facebook site or on his website.

Grand Bank District MHA Darin King called the official opening of the Grand Bank Health Care Center a great day for the community as well as the residents to be served by the facility. MHA King was joined by Health and Community Services Minister, Ross Wiseman , Grand Bank Mayor, Rex Matthews, Eastern Health Board Chair, Joan Dawe, Eastern Health Board Trustee Wayne Bolt, Eastern Health Chief Operating Officer for the Peninsula ’s, Pat Coish-Snow, and many other community residents and employee’s of Eastern Health.

“This is a tremendous event for Grand Bank and the surrounding communities who are served by the Grand Bank Health Care Center ”, MHA King said. ”This is a very progressive and dynamic facility which will result not only in improved services for patients, but it will also see much-needed improvements to working conditions for employees who are here on a daily basis.”

The MHA indicated that residents have been very patient, and have waited a long time for this day. “The old Grand Bank Cottage Hospital was certainly a great facility for the residents it served, in it’s day,” King said, “but it has out-lived it’s life span. There was a great need for a new, modern facility to better serve the residents, and to provide for better, more modern facilities in which medical personnel are able to assist patients.”

Grand Bank Mayor Rex Matthews also expressed delight with the facility opening. “This is a tremendous and exciting day for the Grand Bank/Fortune area,” Mayor Matthews said. “Citizens have been waiting a long time for such a facility, given the poor condition of the old cottage hospital.”

Mayor Matthews indicated that this new facility will be beneficial to all residents of the area it serves. “Good quality health care is vital to the well being of our people. This wonderful facility, along with all the staff who continue to provide the best patient care, will be a major improvement in the delivery of health care services. I am delighted that this day has finally arrived, and I commend and thank all those who worked so hard with the town to make this day a reality.”

This new primary health care center, valued at approximately $7.7 million dollars, will provide clinic and office space for up to five physicians, 24-hour emergency care, out-patient clinics, laboratory and x-ray services. As well, the community services component will provide clinic and office accommodations for community health providers.

Worserer and Worserer

Ok, so I know 'worserer' ain't a real word, but it fits.

...and as Blair reaches out to his old Alberta contacts he finds none are currently working...

From CBC;

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/01/22/suncor-union.html

A move by an Alberta oilsands giant to put expansion plans on hold will have a dire effect on workers on the other side of the country, a union official says.
Suncor, the second-largest producer in the oilsands, declared its first-ever quarterly loss this week and shelved activity on the Voyageur and Firebag expansion projects.
Anne Geehan, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' local in St. John's, said the announcement is the latest in a series that has taken the wind out of an industry that has provided work to thousands of migrating workers from Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Alberta has been so good to us…. We've had many men up there all this year, all last year, but right now it's slowed down because a lot of the projects [including] Suncor — it's all sort of coming down," said Geehan.
"Some of them have scaled back, some of them are on hold right now. So it isn't very good right now."

Happy Ode to Newfoundland Day (one day late)

I was on last night with Ryan Cleary talking about the commuting workforce. Interestingly enough this oilsands slow down really shouldn't come as that much of a shock or surprise to anyone.

In the last two years the number of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians participating in the fly in fly out Alberta commute was estimated to be as high as 10,000. National media jumped all over the story. The CBC calling the Alberta/Newfoundland flight program a "labour phenomenon that is changing the face of Newfoundland and Labrador."

Most phenomenons are short on stamina.

Three short years ago those Newfoundlanders who worked in Alberta either packed it in and moved there or acted like a seasonal worker; leaving in the spring, returning in the fall, and enjoyed a winter at home, and in the case of many rural folks, a winter spent in the Newfoundland wilderness. I know many a Newfoundlander who was home in time to get their moose and wouldn't have it any other way.

Still, getting use to having the work there year round has been a security blanket for many rural dwellers like myself. I, and others like me, are facing a new old reality, one we have dealt with before certainly, but one we never thought we'd be dealing with quite so soon.

As Ryan says, God Guard Thee Newfoundland.

On another note;

ODE TO NEWFOUNDLAND

THE ODE WAS FIRST PERFORMED IN PUBLIC ON JANUARY 21ST, 1902

The words of "The Ode to Newfoundland" were written by His Excellency Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.C.M.G., who was Governor of Newfoundland from 1901 to 1904. The Ode was first performed in public on January 21st, 1902. Frances Foster sang the Ode at the Casino Theatre in St. John’s.

Read more: http://www.stjohnsarchdiocese.nf.ca/archive_moment84.asp

Suncor-Have's No More?

A report I read The National Post indicated Suncor Energy Inc. cut spending plans for the second time in three months, and, God forbid, stalled any further oil sands expansion indefinitely.

This is Suncor's first quarterly loss since the third quarter of 1992, the report indicated, however, excluding one-time items such as foreign exchange losses and a shift to a different accounting policy, Suncor still earned $434-million, or 46¢ a share. Compared to the $677-million, or 73¢ per share, they made last year I guess there isn't much excited hoopla over a measly $434-Million.

As some I know head back to work in the oilsands-a little late, but still back to work none the less, we still wait for hubby's call. 10 resumes were sent out last week; including some locally, and while there was interest no one is hiring in the instrumentation field "just yet."

Stay tuned.

God Guard Thee Newfoundland and Labrador

Ryan Cleary has been hosting VOCM's Night Line this week and has been doing a great job.

From one of his Scrunchins pieces;

May 21, 2008

VOCM’s open-line shows have been credited/slammed of late for influencing government action, with bureaucrats and politicians supposedly glued to their radios to hear who’s saying what and to whom and reacting accordingly. I wonder if VOCM is paying morning show host Randy Simms a deputy-premier salary? I bet he’s definitely missing out on a constituency allowance. Woe is the poor bugger. Former deputy-health minister John Abbott told the Cameron Inquiry recently that government communication staff monitor and manipulate the open lines to deliver key messages to the public, remarks that Danny called “offensive and stupid.” But VOCM has influenced public opinion in these parts since Joey Smallwood wore short pants. (He always carried a pitchfork.) In fact, the entire proceedings of the Newfoundland Convention, held at the Colonial Building in Town between 1946-48 to decide Newfoundland’s fate after commission of government, were broadcast live on VOCM. The station helped dial us into Confederation, and we all know there was no manipulation involved in our being fed to the Canadian wolf.

Cleary is now part of that influence now and he's off to a great, positive start ending his program with the words; God guard thee Newfoundland and Labrador.

Maybe I like and admire the fellow too much to be totally objective, but I am honest when I say I am enjoying enjoying his show

Fly Free No More

I was too busy last evening to even watch the news-very unlike me at that time of the day, but as I bustled around, trying to settle myself so I could relax for at least part of it, my husband sat watching. He called to me when this bit came on;

From CBC NS

An airline that has been shuttling oil-patch workers between Fort McMurray, Alberta, and Sydney is cancelling its weekly flight.

Canadian North is ending the service on Jan. 30.

Why? Because everything has slowed.

Today is the start of our "find a job for Blair," project since the one he was supposed to start earlier this month has been delayed until at least March or April.

We have plans to update his resume and send it around locally and throughout Alberta to see what happens.

Wish us luck. And in the meantime, if anyone is looking for an instrumentation mechanic (third year apprentice I believe) let me know

Lobster Sleevens

Have you ever been out on the ocean with a lobster fisher? I have, and let me tell you; skilled or not, it ain't easy to see a v-notch lobster. (V-notching is a voluntarily practice amongst commercial lobster harvesters where one in four egg-bearing female lobsters is given a v-shaped cut in a section of the tail fan. The lobster is then returned to the water to breed. It is illegal to keep v-notched lobster.)

From yesterday's Telegram;

Three fishermen were recently convicted of keeping illegal lobster during the 2008 harvest. Hedley Butler of Bonavista was convicted on Dec. 10 for having undersize and v-notched lobster in his holding crates while fishing last June. He was fined $1,500 and is not allowed to fish for lobster during the first 10 days of the 2009 season. Meanwhile, Darrin Cooper, also of Bonavista, received a $1,000 fine and is prohibited from fishing lobster for the first five days of the 2009 lobster fishery for possession of undersize lobster. Also, in November, Daniel Baker was convicted of possession of v-notched lobster. Baker received a $1,200 fine and a one day suspension at the start of the 2009 lobster season. He also forfeited his catch. The conviction came from an inspection by DFO fishery officers at the wharf in Harbour Breton, which revealed 11 v-notched female lobsters in Baker’s catch. The lobsters were seized as evidence, photographed and released back into the water.

I know way too many good, honest fisher folk who have been "caught" this way, none of them are criminals. Just look at the picture above and see how, when your out on the ocean in the usually frigid waters in April or May, trying to earn your living as you keep from freezing to death, you could be expected to take note of each and every v-notch in your pot?

Give it a rest DFO. Make allowances for a small percentage. Too many are facing unnecessary hassles from a "voluntary" practice.

Know how to tell a male lobster from a female? Watch the video here http://www.howcast.com/videos/14477-CMN-Video-How-To-Identify-Male-and-Female-Lobsters and learn.

The Boob Battle

I'm a big believer in Breast is Best and as I nurse child number two my resolve is even stronger to keep it up. As I did on child number one over 11 years ago, I will self-wean my daughter, allowing her to decide when she is ready to retire the boob.

My son was finished when he was tall enough to play in what he called the "big boy place" in Woody Woodchucks, a play place for kids near our then Mississauga home. He came home from a birthday party that was held there for an older friend of his and broke it to me as gentle as he could. "Mom, no more nummies. I'm a big boy, see?" he said, standing tall and proud before my astonished eyes. Where had the time gone? My "baby," was almost four. Yes, you heard me, four, and up to that point he was still occasionally breast feeding.

My husband and I just had our daughter for her six month needle and had her growth checked. She is, like our son was before her, off the chart in height, weight and the milestones she has accomplished far exceeds her age. Well, there was one we can't quite say she has reached; rolling, since she has only done it once and shows no signs of ever wanting to do it again, but she sits perfectly on her own and already has a sense of "gone," and "where is it," so that, among other things, places her far ahead for her age despite the rolling thing.

So, I consider this my personal ammo for the breast is best position. I also feel I should be able to nurse my child anywhere and have had my boobs out in church, in Wal-Mart and in grocery stores in my area. If my daughter is hungry or cross, or just needs a little milk and comfort so I can finish my errands, I break "it" out wherever I happen to be.

The very natural act of breast feeding is not obscene, which is why I was shocked to hear about the latest developments happening on my favorite social networking site, Facebook.

With notes from an article I read from The Toronto Star;

Facebook has been receiving an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies. It considered the pictures "obscene" and closed at least one Canadian mothers account for good.

Breastfeeding activists are emailing, posting and instant messaging their outrage. A new Facebook group set up to petition for a change in site policy – called "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" – has swelled from 7,000 members to more than 172,500. The picture that did this mother is was one of her "tandem breastfeeding" her two youngest sons. Her breasts were not visible in the picture. Now, there are still many pictures of breastfeeding mothers throughout Facebook in groups like La Leche League, Canadian Breastfeeding Mommies and particularly this new "Hey Facebook" petition site, so why would a personal photo be considered obscene?

The Star reported that a Facebook spokesperson said Facebook did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but instead removed content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use.

"Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Chin said, according to another recent report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

So, as my six month old daughter celebrates her latest milestones (67.5 in length, 23.5 pounds among her many mental and physical accomplishments) I might need to celebrate and commemorate the event with a snapshot, one posted proudly for all to see on my Facebook site.

I received a few emails wondering why I stopped posting over the holiday’s. The reason? Well, it wouldn’t be a holiday for me if I didn’t get ill. Pretty much every Christmas and Easter I get something awful and this time was no exception.
It started out as a simple bug, one I caught off my husband (the same husband who claims he never gets sick.) The week before Christmas I sounded worst than I felt as I really didn’t find the bug to be that bad. Even though I lost my voice and had gone through a load of tissues, I really didn’t feel that miserable.
The Christmas Eve came. It started with my hands feeling a bit itchy and ended with them becoming horridly swollen, so much so I couldn’t even hold a glass of holiday cheer. I tried being a trooper but started to whimp out when I noticed these awful hives forming on my body. My husband (the dear that he is) told me to shut up and endure it as he wasn’t loading the family up on Christmas Eve to drive an hour to the nearest emerg. I guess I could have driven myself-if I could have closed my hands over the steering wheel, that is.
I stayed put.
The gifts under the tree were more open-handed tossed there than placed with loving care, but I did what I could.
I wondered aloud a few times during the process, questioning my husband on what we would do if my throat suddenly swelled shut and I choked to my death under the twinkling lights if the tree. Blair assured me he was sure there was something around he could poke a hole in my neck with so I could catch a few breaths.
That inspired me to look for another option. I found some children’s strength liquid antihistamine in the fridge, licked what I could out of the almost empty bottle and went to bed.
I’m pleased to say I did wake up Christmas morning, though the condition I was in was less than ideal. I was covered in hives. The only area left clear was my face and my chest. The rest of my body was a mess.
When I could sneak away from the activities around the tree I checked online for the possible cause of my irritating (and very itchy) condition. I narrowed it down to ring worm or scarlet fever, though my symptoms didn’t match either perfectly. Since I wasn’t allowed to screw up Christmas dinner at my cousins home (she is a deadly cook, so I could completely understand Blair’s hesitation to miss that) I covered myself in anti-itch cream and headed out, desperately hoping I wasn’t contagious.
As soon as the meal was over we headed home and I had a nap. I did seem to be improving, but not for long. That night the condition came back with a vengeance and I was covered worse than I had been before. The hives were everywhere.
I woke early on Boxing Day and called the Health Line. They (as always) told me to head up to emerg. We were supposed to be going to my in-laws that day; a three hour drive away, but I couldn’t travel with an easy mind. Killing cousins with my possibly contagious deadliness was one thing, but exposing my elderly in-laws to the danger was quite another; I’d never be forgiven.
I drove myself to the emergency department in Burin. The problem? Who knows-I had a virus, something that was probably contagious but certainly not deadly. I picked up some antihistamine, adult strength this time, drove home, and we continued with our holiday cheer.
I started feeling better a few days later and was thrilled (though curious) that no one else I was in contact with became sick. That was until Brody woke me last Wednesday morning-asking me to scratch his back. He was covered in hives.
The worst of this bug only lasts for 48 hours but still, it isn’t pleasant. What’s worse is that besides Brody and I, I know of no one else who has had it or currently has it.
There is one thing I have to look forward to now that I know for sure it is transferable; and that is the fact that my husband might come down with it eventually.
I think we used up most of the anti-itch cream and antihistamine on Brody, so I guess I should pick up some more just in case hubby does catch it; especially considering we are such a distance from the local pharmacy.
Still, part of me doesn’t want to. If worse comes to worse I’m sure I have something around here I could jab him in the neck with-you know, to help him breathe and stuff.

Western Woes

Happy New Year! By now most family’s have gotten back to their pre-Christmas normal, but not us or others like us who depend on Alberta for our “normal.” Why? Because there may not be anything to go back to. My husband left his job out west in October to go back to school for eight weeks and before long word started filtering back to him that going back to work might not be as easy as many had thought.
On November 7th I made some notes indicating that conversations I was having with other Burin Peninsula folks indicated that layoffs in Alberta were happening at a rapid pace and there seemed to be something to it beyond the regular pre-holiday shut down.
Blair was supposed to go back to work on January 5th. He was supposed to start a new project at Albian Sands. Right now the date he has been given to start there is in April. It’s not that everything has shut down completely. Flint is hiring 1000 workers immediately but they are currently only looking for those in the pipefitting and welding trades. Those in the electrical and instrumentation trades will start later. Blair has been told that once he starts he will be “steady go” until late 2010 or early 2011 at the same project. For now, the flight program is still into affect according to some company rep’s I spoke with but some former western rotational workers told me they were advised that unless they were prepared to work “the long haul,” don’t bother heading up. Blair also experienced that as he was offered work on the 15th of this month if he was willing to take a full time job.
Our phone started ringing New Years Day. By the time we returned home on the 4th our voice mail was full; full of calls from men Blair has worked with in the past, calling not to wish us a Happy New Year, but to ask if he had any lines on work for 2009. They were all coming up empty and not having much luck so out came the cell phone contact list and the buddy calls began. Blair has made a few of those calls himself though I have to admit I don’t think he’s overly anxious to get back at it. Not right then anyway.
But we realize that things quite possibly could get much worse and despite the fact that it sucks living off EI, it also only lasts so long so finding a camp job will be Blair’s top priority this coming week.
Once you find something it has been our experience that the wheels work quickly and from the time you get the call to go and the time you leave it’s usually only a matter of days.
So, in optimistic preparation, Blair took our 11 year-old away for a boys only weekend. He has also spent a lot of time with our almost six month-old daughter. He picked up the parts he needed to ready the skidoo for Brody and he’s making plans to get his father down here so they can finish the bathroom work they started before the holidays.
This ritual seems all too familiar only this time I‘m wondering if the getting ready for gone will actually result in a leaving at all.