Let’s continue our series of meeting people who work with the Government of Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services.
Today we visit the Haines Junction, where the local health centre which has an amazing view of the mountains in Kluane National Park and Reserve.
Meghann is the primary healthcare nurse in charge. The Haines Junction Health Centre has 4 primary health care nurses on staff. They run clinics, perform primary health care and offer community health care as well as emergency care. The health centre also includes a physician's clinic, which offers appointments to the community and hosts a physician who travels to Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek health centres.
Can you tell us about your career?
I have worked in Haines Junction since 2009. From the moment that I started working in Haines Junction, it just felt like home. Working with the whole community here, I felt immediately welcomed. I felt like I could really contribute and really help. I originally came up as a nurse from Ontario. I moved to Haines Junction in 2006 and did my training here and then moved around all of the different communities in the Yukon for 2 years before deciding to settle down in Haines Junction permanently in 2009.
What makes a good day at work?
In a small center like Haines Junction, we have familiarity with our patients. We work well as a team. Everybody kind of knows what to expect! We work with patients of all ages. You really feel you have something that you can contribute. I like knowing the community. I like knowing the patients. I, my family and the whole team feel a sense of belonging.
And what’s more, we can really effect change. And we've seen it! We've seen situations where someone is struggling and we're able to help guide them, put them in line with resources and support them to be able to be really successful in their lives and see their situation improve.
One thing that comes up often is the expanded scope of practice. You do many things here. Can you tell us about that?
That is true. The work here involves prevention. We do wellness appointments, we work with babies and we provide immunizations. We also do ambulatory and acute care kind of things, like dealing with people with lung infections or acute gastritis where you actually have to give people medicine and start IVs. We can suture wounds, do x-rays and can backslab broken limbs. [Note: This is a type of flexible cast nurses can apply]
There's a lot that you can do in an expanded scope, and there's a lot of ways to help people in a small community.
How is it working with this team?
I think this is a really special health center. It's not like other health centers. In a lot of ways the expanded scope is the same as everywhere else but here it's a bigger team. Working with a physician, there's more support. Everybody here works full time, permanent. We all are living and part of the community. We've committed to it. And it's a family. It's really great.
