Vancouver General Hospital:

April 1965 - May 1966

Registered Nurse � Emergency Room

This large teaching hospital introduced me to the highest clinical standards practiced in any E.R. in North America. The 80 bed capacity dept. throbbed night and day with efficient activity. Covering all clinical specialties, this 13 months was an invaluable period of learning for me. But I had to travel north to find the essence of Canada.

Cassiar Hospital:

June 1966 - July 1967

1 of 4 RNs and a doctor

Huddled comfortably at the base of the spectacular Cassiar mountains, this small but perfectly formed hospital delivered a full range of health care and surveillance to the 2,000 personnel who worked the open cast asbestos mine.

Set among the stunning scenery of NW British Columbia, the high grade, long fibred green asbestos �fluff� was recovered from the ore, trucked to Whitehorse, then on the Whitepass train to Skagway, Alaska and exported via Vancouver around the world. Cassiar asbestos was used in heat shields on NASA space capsules and astronaut�s space suits.

Here I learned of herbal medicines as used by local Indian tribes; saw grizzlies, moose and eagles soaring high; how 40 below zero felt and marvelled at the aurora borealis. Fish really were t-h-i-s big in rivers and lakes. Shut down and now abandoned since 1992, I recently re-visited in August 2009 more of that later.