Amy Wilson - When Days Are Long

When Days Are Long

Copyright 2019 Amy V. Wilson

Cover map by Annora Brown

First edition published in July 1965 under the title No Man Stands Alone by Grays Publishing Ltd, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. No Man Stands Alone was published throughout the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth excepting Canada by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., Warwick Lane, London, EC4.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, .

Caitlin Press Inc.

8100 Alderwood Road,

Halfmoon Bay, BC V0N 1Y1

www.caitlin-press.com

Printed in Canada

Caitlin Press Inc. acknowledges financial support from the Government of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishers Tax Credit.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: When days are long : nurse in the North / Amy Wilson.

Other titles: No man stands alone

Names: Wilson, Amy V., 19081965 author.

Description: Originally published under title: No man stands alone.

Identifiers: Canadiana 20190127449 | ISBN 9781773860084 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Wilson, Amy V., 19081965 | LCSH: NursesYukonBiography. | LCSH: NursesBritish Columbia, NorthernBiography. | LCSH: Rural nursingYukon. | LCSH: Rural nursingBritish Columbia, Northern. | LCSH: MedicineYukon. | LCSH: MedicineBritish Columbia, Northern.

Classification: LCC RT37.W55 A3 2019 | DDC 610.73092dc23

Nurse in the North

Amy V. Wilson, RN

Caitlin Press

Dedicated to my dear sisters and brothers, all five of them, and to the memory of Mona, Mother and Dad

I knew Amy Wilson as a first-rate nursequietly efficient and thoroughly reliable, but so shy and reserved that even her puckish sense of humour was only occasionally apparent to her closest friends. And now she has written this remarkable book.Better than the drama of the incidents, and at times the purse poetry of the descriptions, is the warmth of feeling for the people of the north that shows through the writing.D.R. Ross, M.D.No Man Stands Alone is a fascinating story. It has a true title, for no man can stand alone in the north for long. In the Cree language, Muskeekee Iskwao mitone sakehikoowisew (The District Nurse is greatly beloved). She deserves the praise and gratitude of the whole nation.Donald R. MacLaren, D.S.O., M.C. and BAR, D.F.C., bush pilot, Indian-Eskimo Association of CanadaThe essence of this tale of northern life is probably the sharp reminder that hunger and want are not merely terrible conditions in a foreign land sufficiently far away to bear social discussion. They are the daily diet of thousands of sons of Canadian soil. There is a message to this book Every Canadian should hear that message and shed just a little of his smugness.F.G. Richards, Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands Review, Wednesday, September 15, 1965[No Man Stands Alone] is one of the most affecting books about this country Ive read in years in its unaffected honesty, [Wilsons] book tells a great deal about Canada, that formless entity whose meaning were always seeking and about the quality of Canadians. Whats described is a Canada that we of the urban east have scarcely considered; whats revealed is a kind of Canadian we hardly know, a woman of guts and conscience.Christina McCall Newman, Chatelaine, April 1966

It might seem like the 1950s was so long agowhy is anyone interested in the experiences of one nurse stationed in the north? With advances in our medical practices, universal health care and modern modes of transportation even in the remote reaches of the country, much has changed in seventy years. What hasnt changed is the health conditions for Indigenous peoples in the north. The devastating situations that nurse Amy Wilson encountered during her time in the north and spent the rest of her career trying to change are still ongoing today.

My story is not so different from Amys: I worked as a nurse in the Northwest Territories from 1994 to 1995 and saw first-hand how racism and indifference toward Indigenous people influenced policy decisions and health care practices. In one remote health centre where I worked, I came across two nurses who were so burnt out and embittered by the lack of resources that they had become disillusioned and resentful. During one shift at the health centre, I found expired medications and was gathering them up to send them back to our head office in Inuvik. I was asked what I was doing and explained that most of the medication in the pharmacy had expired and that I was going to replace it. The response was, Whats the point, these people [Indigenous people] dont follow the instructions anyway. The problem wasnt one of following or not following instructions, but was one of basic communication barriers and a racist system that perpetuates ignorance and apathy. The health centre had an Indigenous interpreter who was supposed to translate medical instructions and information to the clients in the Dene language. I soon discovered that the interpreter was illiterate in both English and Dene. When I brought up this concern, I was met with indifference. I was also shocked that a universal pictorial language had not been created for exactly this reason. It was a small thing that had a huge impact on health and wellness and I couldnt seem to get anyone to care about this.

Nursing in the north is challenging and exhausting. I experienced temperatures of minus seventy-five degrees Celsius and complete darkness from November to February. The remoteness, unrelenting winter conditions and the long hours have not changed for northern nurses. Amy Wilsons account of her experiences with the indifference toward the exposure to health care and overall living conditions of the northern Indigenous people are as relevant today as they were more than seventy years ago. This is a story that needs to be told again and perhaps, finally, someone will listen. In order to change the present we need to go back to the past to see how little we have gained and how far we have left to go.

Paula Culling RN, RPN, BAAN, MN

Registered Nurse, Registered Psychiatric Nurse, Bachelors degree in Community Mental Health Nursing and Masters degree in Nursing.