Nursing in Stewart, BC

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Specializes in Med/surg. ED. Palliative. Geront.

Hi guys

Anyone know anything about Stewart, BC or what it's like Nursing there? How many beds has the hospital/health centre?

Toying with the idea of going 'Rural' for the rest of my career (maybe 25 years left!). I've done Emerge, Palliative, Care of the Elderly, Medical and Surgical.

I'm British and been in BC for almost 2 years. Tired of living in cities - been in them most of my life. I want to live in the fresh air and look at mountains.

How is it for family life? I'm married and have 4 kids - aged 14 down to 5.

Any info gratefully accepted.

Thanks very much

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Well, Stewart would definitely be rural! It's only a mile from Hyder, Alaska (population 97!!). From the photos on the websites I looked at, it's very quaint and picturesque. (There are gorgeous mountain peaks right out the back door.) And snowy!! Their winter temps are apparently -5 to +5, which isn't so bad, but they get TONS of snow.

The local year-round population is under 700, so the hospital would be very small. One tourist site I looked at said there are two physicians... So maybe 10 beds? I also saw an ad for a lab/x-ray tech, so they obviously don't have tons of work for diagnostics. I would guess that the bulk of their patients would be acutely ill or injured in some sort of skiing/hiking/climbing mishap. Maybe the occasional near-drowning.

Real estate seems to be a bargain. I looked at a 5 bedroom, 2 bath double garage home that lists for $95,000. http://bc.propertysold.ca/stewart/704-brightwell-street. Makes me almost want to move there myself!!

Specializes in oncology, acute rehab.

Here you are, Canadian nurses helping you with real estate:

http://bc.propertysold.ca/stewart/3255/1508-glacier-dr

$85,000!....hard to say no!

Pics show a town view so you can see it's the epitome of Northern rural! ...a pretty spectacular place to raise a family I would imagine.

Specializes in Rural outpost nursing and ED nursing.

I was looking up the address for Stewart General hospital for my resume, as I used to work there! Not many people can say that, as it's a small place. I worked there in the Fall of 1997 for five months, as a new grad. Stewart is very very rural. At that time the population was about 500. It is surrounded on 3 sides by snow covered mountains (lots of avalanches in winter closing roads some times). Only one road in. The other side is an inlet coming through Alaska Territory. The US boarder is 1km away. There are about 100 people in Hyder Alaska. Lots of Grizzly bears, even some walking in town. Seriously, I have photos. We had grizzly bear tracks in our front yard sometimes. There was one crummy grocery store in Stewart and one tiny one in Hyder. There was a dirty old bar/pool room, no clothing stores at all, one salon, one fried chicken restaurant. The people are nice, however it is a very small town, so everyone knows your business. Now, the scenery is incredible. Stewart is surrounded by Glaciers, such as the Bear Glacier and I can't remember the others. It has a huge amount of snow in winter, I believe sets a record in Canada for the most snow. In the cold months most people burn wood stoves, so I wheezed even though I didn't have asthma. I worked as an RN there. The hospital is small, only about 3 beds in the "ER" and only a few in patient beds. Lovely newer facility with lab and doctor's offices. At that time there was one main doctor named Larry. The ambulance service was run by a unit chief that had 5 ambulance calls under his belt (literally, I was an EMT there as well). As a nurse you do everything, including make meals, and I think I did laundry too. Can't remember. I would not recommend brining a family there as your kids would likely go nuts unless they hate shopping and love playing outside all the time. My favorite thing to do was to drive into Hyder and watch the grizzly bears fish in the river (close up). Does that answer your question? It's a long drive to Stewart. I'd recommend a "bigger" small town, personally. I've worked in other small towns. Check out Prince Rupert BC or the Queen Charlotte Islands. Much more interesting!

Would there even be a high school for the 14yo or would the family have to home school?

Specializes in Med/surg. ED. Palliative. Geront.

Thanks Canadian Girl - that's possibly the best reply I've ever seen in my life and it made me laugh. What a great description! Makes it sound like something from the 19th century - little house on the prairie but with mountains! Gave me so much more info than all the unsuccessful web trawling I've been doing. Perhaps we'll look for somewhere a little less 'very very rural'. Much obliged! *tips hat*

I visited Stewart in the fall of 07 on a drive back to the states from AK. It is tiny and personally, I think the weather would be a drag. It was really cloudy and misty when we were there and being that close to the ocean and that far north, I think it would probably be like that a lot. I did love seeing the grizzlies, but I would be scared for my dogs. Great response from Canada Girl about the hospital and such. Just thought I'd give my 2 cents. Good luck and keep us informed wherever you end up!

Hi everyone, can someone here tell how's the social life and nursing in prince rupert BC?? I am a not old not so young male nurse that likes to mix up work and socializing wit friends with my common age group, lol!

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