Each of us has a definition of a hero. It’s usually thought of as someone who has rescued someone from a burning building or but can be someone who has spent time giving support and providing care for a friend. There are all kinds of heroes out there. Today I met the local Fire Marshall. And today I brought in a couple of dozen of carrot muffins that I had baked last night to thank the support staff of the health centre (remember there is no Tim Horton’s is all of NUNAVUT territory). Their combined efforts yesterday kept the xray equipment from suffering extreme water damage. Let me tell you what happened.
When I arrived a week ago today, and reported to the department the first time, the xray room was quite cool…18 or 19C. But when you are new to an area you hate to go around looking for thermostats to change so I didn’t. Maybe I should have, in hindsight, but I was warm, had extra layers with me and found I didn’t need the Henry’s fleece I had brought, just in case, to keep me warm at work. I still haven’t had to use it.
There was a portable electric heater present so I used it. Later in the morning, the area was still cool but bearable. We were busy since the department had really been closed since Christmas. Nothing emergent but everyone was returning. When the manager of the centre came by, she noticed that it was cool and in conversation about a lot of things told about the problem last year in the room next door. Cold weather had burst some overhead pipes.
I found a thermostat in the office and turned it up. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference by late afternoon but it was hard to tell from the added heat of the viewboxes and the processor. On Friday, I had fewer people being introduced and the work flow was a bit easier since the processor problem of the day before was behind me and I was a bit more comfortable with the equipment. Saturday evening I got called back to the centre and found the room was extremely cold but the doors had been closed and the equipment had been off for twenty four hours.
No calls on Sunday. Monday a.m., I arrive at the department to find some oil or grease splatters at one end of the room just a couple of feet from the xray table and the generator panels. I looked above it and there was a fire sprinkler head. We contacted the building people and then notice there were splatters of the same substance on the wall. We cleaned up the mess and decided to put some plastic just along the generator panels just in case and moved any unnecessary equipment from the immediate area. I figured the plastic would reduce our cleanup of the goo. I told the staff helping me that we had just found oil and PetroCanada had nothing on this find. Room temperature remains cool but we are now in a blizzard at this point with winds and a wind chill factor of around 50C (the minus is still understood).
They decide to keep the access panel above the xray table open to let in some warmer room air and we kept the doors open for added circulation and heat. Just to be sure we also add more plastic over the Image Intensifier, xray table, and added additional plastic from the ceiling down over the generator panels. I fully expected a call back that night. It didn’t happen. The weather continued cold and blowing and on Tuesday a.m. there was a little more goop on the floor but hardly anything. I though we were in the clear.
About three o’clock that afternoon, there were a few of us talking about my hometown of Niagara Falls while having our break in the staff lounge. Some of the local Inuks had been there. One had done a course with Fort Erie Fire Department Search and Rescue so we were talking about the river and how important it was to our region when someone yelled that the sprinkler had burst. We all responded and the steady stream of people exiting the staircase grabbed mops and pails as we tried to soak up the water spewing from that sprinkler head.
They had to shut down the sprinkler system and drain it so no more water would come out. That took some time but we all worked hard and soon the floor was dry and we had dried the plastic coverings as well. The sprinkler head was removed and a temporary plug was inserted. I was relieved that the xray equipment had been saved and decided that no more xrays would be done with that machine until the morning when it had a chance for any moisture to dry. We have portable for backup. The danger had been averted.
Not so fast! Down in the boiler room we had another flood. It seems that the sump pump that drains the sprinkler system had froze solid. So all the water from the entire two story building was now underfoot in the boiler room. My area was already dry so I pitched and we mopped and bailed…and eventually the problem was resolved. I told the Inuks “tomorrow at lunch you guys are getting swimming lessons.” They all laughed. I was serious…so were they!
Today, our department thanked those heroes. It was a small token of appreciation for what could have been a major disaster to the community. The second boiler has now been going a full day, several sinks with no water running are working again. The xray room was up to 19C before lunch. That access panel remains open and we close it when we have a case that requires the table bucky since it hangs down and would interfere in the overhead tube crane travel. So by the end of today all was good with the world here in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Territory, Canada.
That was, until about 4:45, when I heard the siren. It was eerie and reminded me of my early years at the General in St. Catharines before 1970 when ambulance services were run by the fire department. We had no radio link with them and so when there was a bad case they would sound the siren at the street entrance to Emerg. You then had about thirty seconds until things were flying through the door.
As bad as the flood in our xray room yesterday from the fire sprinkler and the flood in the equipment room, they pale with the realty of late this afternoon...another suicide in this community. Fourteen years is awful young...hug your kids tonight!
When I arrived a week ago today, and reported to the department the first time, the xray room was quite cool…18 or 19C. But when you are new to an area you hate to go around looking for thermostats to change so I didn’t. Maybe I should have, in hindsight, but I was warm, had extra layers with me and found I didn’t need the Henry’s fleece I had brought, just in case, to keep me warm at work. I still haven’t had to use it.
There was a portable electric heater present so I used it. Later in the morning, the area was still cool but bearable. We were busy since the department had really been closed since Christmas. Nothing emergent but everyone was returning. When the manager of the centre came by, she noticed that it was cool and in conversation about a lot of things told about the problem last year in the room next door. Cold weather had burst some overhead pipes.
I found a thermostat in the office and turned it up. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference by late afternoon but it was hard to tell from the added heat of the viewboxes and the processor. On Friday, I had fewer people being introduced and the work flow was a bit easier since the processor problem of the day before was behind me and I was a bit more comfortable with the equipment. Saturday evening I got called back to the centre and found the room was extremely cold but the doors had been closed and the equipment had been off for twenty four hours.
No calls on Sunday. Monday a.m., I arrive at the department to find some oil or grease splatters at one end of the room just a couple of feet from the xray table and the generator panels. I looked above it and there was a fire sprinkler head. We contacted the building people and then notice there were splatters of the same substance on the wall. We cleaned up the mess and decided to put some plastic just along the generator panels just in case and moved any unnecessary equipment from the immediate area. I figured the plastic would reduce our cleanup of the goo. I told the staff helping me that we had just found oil and PetroCanada had nothing on this find. Room temperature remains cool but we are now in a blizzard at this point with winds and a wind chill factor of around 50C (the minus is still understood).
They decide to keep the access panel above the xray table open to let in some warmer room air and we kept the doors open for added circulation and heat. Just to be sure we also add more plastic over the Image Intensifier, xray table, and added additional plastic from the ceiling down over the generator panels. I fully expected a call back that night. It didn’t happen. The weather continued cold and blowing and on Tuesday a.m. there was a little more goop on the floor but hardly anything. I though we were in the clear.
About three o’clock that afternoon, there were a few of us talking about my hometown of Niagara Falls while having our break in the staff lounge. Some of the local Inuks had been there. One had done a course with Fort Erie Fire Department Search and Rescue so we were talking about the river and how important it was to our region when someone yelled that the sprinkler had burst. We all responded and the steady stream of people exiting the staircase grabbed mops and pails as we tried to soak up the water spewing from that sprinkler head.
They had to shut down the sprinkler system and drain it so no more water would come out. That took some time but we all worked hard and soon the floor was dry and we had dried the plastic coverings as well. The sprinkler head was removed and a temporary plug was inserted. I was relieved that the xray equipment had been saved and decided that no more xrays would be done with that machine until the morning when it had a chance for any moisture to dry. We have portable for backup. The danger had been averted.
Not so fast! Down in the boiler room we had another flood. It seems that the sump pump that drains the sprinkler system had froze solid. So all the water from the entire two story building was now underfoot in the boiler room. My area was already dry so I pitched and we mopped and bailed…and eventually the problem was resolved. I told the Inuks “tomorrow at lunch you guys are getting swimming lessons.” They all laughed. I was serious…so were they!
Today, our department thanked those heroes. It was a small token of appreciation for what could have been a major disaster to the community. The second boiler has now been going a full day, several sinks with no water running are working again. The xray room was up to 19C before lunch. That access panel remains open and we close it when we have a case that requires the table bucky since it hangs down and would interfere in the overhead tube crane travel. So by the end of today all was good with the world here in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Territory, Canada.
That was, until about 4:45, when I heard the siren. It was eerie and reminded me of my early years at the General in St. Catharines before 1970 when ambulance services were run by the fire department. We had no radio link with them and so when there was a bad case they would sound the siren at the street entrance to Emerg. You then had about thirty seconds until things were flying through the door.
As bad as the flood in our xray room yesterday from the fire sprinkler and the flood in the equipment room, they pale with the realty of late this afternoon...another suicide in this community. Fourteen years is awful young...hug your kids tonight!
2 comments:
Best of luck in your adventures - they sound like you'll NEVER forget them.
Hope the rest of your time is a little more laid back.
what an awesome blog...feel like i'am there with you briggs..keep up the great work..more iages of the locals and staff would be nice..
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