Special Challenges of Nursing in the North

Saskatchewan's north is a beautiful place. Small, remote towns dot the treed landscape, cut off from one another and the rest of the province by crystal-clear lakes and dense forest. While the landscape is of almost unparalleled beauty, it is difficult to develop and thus is not heavily populated. There has always been a medical presence in northern Saskatchewan but physicians are hard to come by and there is a heavier reliance on nurses to provide medical care.

Nurses practising in Northern Saskatchewan, although they often practice solo, generally enjoy their work. Because they are often the only medical personnel in small communities, nurses are able to use the full scope of their abilities. They have to deal with everything from educating the public on preventive care to emergency treatment of injuries. Physicians are always available by telephone but nurses do have to make decisions that can mean the difference between life and death.

Bonnie Kalk, a psychiatric nurse who worked in northern Saskatchewan, remembers that working in the north requires a certain cultural sensitivity. She was one of only three Registered Psychiatric Nurses working in northern Saskatchewan at the time. Many nurses who travel from southern to northern Saskatchewan have to adapt to a different way of life. They cannot impose their views on the existing cultures and traditional values of the northern communities. Kalk says that some nurses adapted better than others and those who did found it much easier to fit into the communities where they were working. Kalk learned much about her own spirituality from the people in the north  She sees much value in their traditional ways. (Interview with Bonnie Kalk).