Dr Kate and her puppies

08/15/2022

This is a really well-written and compelling article. Sadly, the situation in Ontario isn't that different from the one in BC.

My job as a family physician in small-town British Columbia is a dream come true. It's also nearly impossible to do.

09/25/2021

I think we can all relate to this on some level but I am sharing this here because I have a VERY dear friend who is a 911 dispatcher. I know s/he's not just a voice on the other end of the phone.
911 dispatchers are the voices that will hold you in your worst moments. If need be they're there to hold you in your last moments, or the last moments of your loved ones.
911 dispatchers are truly the first responders...

"I Am So Much More.
I am the voice on the other side of the phone when you call 911.
I am the voice you get upset with for asking what feels like 100 questions.
I am the voice that gets cursed at when the police officer, the firefighters, or the EMTs are not there when you feel they've had plenty of time.
But I am so much more.
I am the voice that calms the child that comes home from school and their mom or dad isn't there.
I am the voice that gets the description of the person that just tried to break into your house.
I am the voice that stays on the phone with the person that wants to take their life because they just don't want to live anymore.
I am the voice that walks you through performing CPR on your loved one until the EMTs get there.
But I am still so much more.
To my responders I am a tool for obtaining information that could save their lives.
I am a tool that helps them with an investigation because they are busy answering another call for help, with several more waiting.
I am their map when technology fails and their computer glitches.
I am their lifeline when they are dealing with the person that just threatened to kill them and their partners.
But I am still so much more.
To my family I am their loved one that comes home from working over because there was an active emergency that needed an extra person to handle.
I am the reason they have to change their plans and holidays due to my work schedule.
I am the loved one who is stressed out about a call but I can't talk to them about it because I took an oath to keep the information of those that I help confidential.
But I am still so much more.
I am more than just a voice on the other end of the phone.
I am a person.
I take my caller's problems home with me because I don't have time to process everything that happened before the next call comes in.
I am the first responder".

Stories don't always need to be told amongst friends.
Sometimes no words say everything that needs to be said.
Hugs, and an appreciation of that vow of confidentiality that we hold close to our hearts, that keep you safe yet propel us to those who can hold us close as we curl ourselves around your darkest moments and your deepest secrets...

This is a HUGE shout-out to all of the 911 dispatchers out there, the true first responders.
Please share.
xok

04/04/2021

My impression of a turkey tom.
A bit of fun from my farm from last winter.
Happy Spring everyone!

04/04/2021

I haven’t posted for a while.
Not that I haven’t been thinking about it.
I’ve written so many posts in my head that never made it to anywhere beyond.
Same for my farm page, and my soap page.

I won’t even begin to quote the poems that never made it to paper.

So much has happened through this pandemic. 
There’s so much information out there, information that changes daily. 
As physicians, we can barely keep up with it all, and I know you’re relying on us to keep up with it all. 
Please trust that we’re doing our best.

I know many of you are trying to keep up as well. I am grateful for your efforts.
And I am forever grateful to the anchors of our Newburgh clinic
(we all know who they are, right?!).
They keep us afloat. They smile through it all. 
When this pandemic is over, we will all owe them the biggest hugs!!



So…

Here’s my offering for today, a culmination of my thoughts over the past several months, inspired by a question from a patient when I tried to explain my balance of work and home/farm life.

“Which is the hobby” they asked, “the farm or the medical practice?”...

Nobody had ever asked me that before.
In the moment, I didn’t know how to answer.

So, after pondering a bit, here’s my best answer…
Generally, I farm in the mornings and doctor in the afternoons/evenings,
These days, I come back home to my farm at sunset, in time for evening chores. 

The lines are often blurred from either side.
Breakfast (brunch) and dinner are often spent at my computer, looking at lab reports, researching the latest covid updates, etc.
Late nights are a free-for all. There's likely music in there somewhere.
Weekends can be a stretch goal between morning and evening, farmer and physician, often a little bit of everything.
Both are a privilege for which I am grateful.

The potential for joy or grief accompanies me always.


My farm is my happy place where it’s just me and my critters and my family.
And the seasons.
The sun or the clouds, snow or rain, mud, wind…
maybe a brilliant blue sky, or breathtaking stars…
and always, my pager.

My farm keeps me grounded.
It feeds me. It feeds my family and my community.
My farm nurtures me physically and emotionally.
It allows me to find the energy to give back to my community as a doctor.

The clinic is where I can step off my farm to nurture my greater community.

The clinic is where I feel like I can make a different kind of contribution to my community.
It feels like our space, a space that connects us to a world beyond differences, a world where we can celebrate everything we have in common.

Honestly, I don’t think I could do one without the other right now.

There are so many war analogies out there, I know, but I do feel like I’m reporting from the trenches, even though our local numbers are good. (I have colleagues working in the thick of it and honestly I can barely imagine...).

I know my Newburgh Clinic Beloveds are feeling the same.
Extra meetings, extra shifts at the Covid Clinics or the Mass Immunization Clinics…
The mountains of paperwork, phone calls, messages…
Overwhelming anxiety at times.
Trying to support each other…
Grieving friends/colleagues who have been lost…
It’s a lot.

Mental health issues have skyrocketed through this pandemic, in all age groups. 
Not a day goes by when I’m not counselling someone about self-care.
Su***de rates are alarming.
It seems not a week goes by when I’m not talking someone down off the bridge.

It’s true that medical care is redefining itself through necessity, and thanks to all who are patient as we navigate these uncharted waters.
Please know that we are all doing our best.
For me, part of my best means celebrating the part of me that is a farmer.


I couldn’t be the physician that I am without the balance of my farm.
Morning and evening chores are the bookends that keep me upright.
My critters, their simple needs, the connection with the land…
That’s what energises me. 
It’s what allows me the time to reflect on my day and how I might be of better service to those of you in my care.

And I couldn't be the farmer that I am without the balance of everything that my patients bring to me.
My farm keeps me grounded but you keep me connected.
And between my farm and my practice... I can stay focussed.

I need to practice the self-care that I preach.
‘Me’ needs to come first at the start of the day.
‘Me’ needs to come first at the end of the day.
Morning and evening chores and the critters that rely on me for food and water, a bit of loving and a bit of fun,
but always, before I head out the door…
a slap of my back pocket to make sure I’ve got my pager with me in case a palliative patient needs me to jump into action.

Grounded, connected, focussed...
Relationships.

I hope you who are reading can read this with the honesty with which it was written.
I am grateful for all you have done to keep our numbers low.
I cross my fingers that we will be able to get the vaccine out to as many as possible as quickly as possible. These vaccines will be the game-changers, and I know we all desperately want the rules of this game to change.


In the meantime, thanks for reading,
Thanks for doing your part.
Please look after yourself and each other.
We all need to be part of that community that supports each other.
Please reach out if you need support.
And thanks for the privilege of inviting me into your lives,
Stay grounded.
Stay connected.
Stay focussed.
With warm and sincere wishes,
Dr. Kate

12/19/2020

It's been a long while since I've posted.
Here's a long overdue post.
One of our local family doctors wrote a letter in response to Randy Hillier's recent Covid stance.
It was signed by dozens of other local physicians, yours truly included.
Here it is.
This information needs to be out there.
Please share.

Shared via Adobe Acrobat. You can add comments too.

09/19/2020

Checking in, taking your pulse...
How's everyone doing out there?
Our KFLA numbers are lookin' good but these are still crazy times.
Stage Three re-opened...
Back-to-school barely behind us with who knows what's yet to come.
On my last Covid Clinic day I swabbed a TON of littles -- kudos to the brave tykes and those parents who made it quick and easy, but it wasn't fun for any of us, and we're not done yet.
And now Thanksgiving is looming...
I worry about the long-term repercussions that this is taking on all of us...
Health-care workers, stay-at-home parents, we're all essential...
And the littles, and us grown-up littles, we're social creatures. We need hugs. We need conversation. We need to learn about ourselves and each other, through communion and conflict.
Those above the poverty line and those below, and the rest who are somewhere in between.
Those who are alone and desperate, and those who are surrounded yet still desperate.
Personally, I've traversed all of these boundaries.
These are desperate times on some level for most of us.
What gives me hope is that what I'm mostly hearing is a prevailing chorus of strength...
"We'll get through this".
"We're in this together".

Lots of unchartered waters ahead...
To quote Damian Barr...
"We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm."

Please reach out and lend a hand, or an ear...
to a friend or a neighbour, or a stranger.

09/12/2020

Esoteric Saturday post.
Thanks to the Marine Detective for sharing this poem.
*Edit* to say "Oops somehow I managed to not actually share the poem so here it is now..."

Fear, by Khalil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.

"It's not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean".

These words speak to me on so many levels, especially in the uncharted waters of Covid times.

I've always loved poetry.
I've always loved the ocean.
Born and bred on the prairies, the ocean was always the ultimate destination.

Even though the prairies will always be where my heart can take a deep breath and know that I'm truly home... I am still drawn to the ocean, to the voyage.

Khalil Gibran's poem speaks to my heart and reminds me of one of my earliest memories of story-telling...

'Paddle to the Sea' by Holling C Holling.

Paddle to the Sea is the story of the journey of a hand-carved paddler in his canoe, carved by a young boy in the Canadian north, lovingly launched by his creator from a snow-covered river bank early in the spring. It tells the story of the wooden paddler and his canoe, through spring run-off, through lumber mills and great lakes, through all kinds of adversity and accolades, tenderness and near-tragedy...
It was one of my absolute favourite childhood stories/movies.
Still is, still makes me weep every time.

So, Esoteric Saturday...,
We're in this together whether we like it or not.
We'll do way better if we embrace the fact that we're in this together.

The ocean is one of the most powerful forces on this planet.
I would like to believe that humankind is another such powerful force.
Let's paddle to the sea. Let's become the ocean.
Let's do everything we can to support each other to get there.
Together, we've got this!

"Only then will fear disappear"