Stuart Lake Hospital, Fort St James.

Fiona59 · Dec 28, 2009

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002962

Do you have a thing for small towns?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Dec 28, 2009

Fort St James on Stuart Lake is a rather isolated northern BC town of about 5000 people. The population is largely aboriginal, and the main industries are forestry and mining. It's a very scenic area with a lot of outdoor activities such as boating, hiking, camping and so on. It's a rural community where everyone knows everyone else and those kinds of community are great for raising kids. There are two public elementary schools and one public secondary school as well as a campus of the College of New Caledonia. There is no French immersion programme there. Real estate is reasonably priced but limited in supply.

The town has one hotel and two motels, a bed-and-breakfast, three campgrounds and a lodge. There are two gas stations, five service stations, three hair salons, two banks and a credit union, an Overwaitea grocery store, three liquor outlets, eleven restaurant/coffee shops, a bakery, a department store (Field's), a drug store, two electronics stores, a library and a theatre. For the sporty types there are cross-country ski trails, a ski hill, a golf course and numerous hiking trails. The climate is similar to Edmonton's but with a lot more precipitation. The road conditions there at the moment are slippery and partially snow covered.

Getting there is by road. The nearest commercial airport is in Prince George, although there are small plane and helicopter charter services out of Fort St James. Greyhound currently runs a bus out there but that service my end soon.

The hospital is a 19 bed acute care hospital that offers maternity, pediatrics, medicine and surgery beds. I would guess that there are only two or three nurses, with a physician on call, at a time. It's likely that the nurses would be generalists, doing a bit of everything every day, including catching babies, taking x-rays, suturing and a few other odd jobs. Really ill patients would be taken to Fraser Lake, Prince George or Vanderhoof, and critically ill patients would go to Kamloops or Vancouver.