Help is on the way...maybe

For those who have listened to me perseverate about my working situation for the last three months, you are free to stop reading at this point. For those who have not had this pleasure, let me give you some background. I arrived in New Zealand on 8 January, excited about the prospect of working in a different country, in a different medical system, and in a rural setting. My contract was for a year in a small town, one of two General Practitioners in a community based clinic. Perfect, I thought. I had asked a collegue about the area, spoken to some of the nurses and the CEO of the Tahua, and thought everything seemed fine. One never really knows what they're getting into when embarking on an adventure like this, that's part of the risk you take. It can also be part of the fun.

I officially started working on 16 January. It was an easy schedule at first, 30 minute patient visits, giving me the ability to get to know the patient population, perhaps practice a little holistic medicine. Everyone was very friendly, helpful, and eager for me to be there. The other GP was another locum from South Africa, a common country from which to transplant to New Zealand I learned. Two days into starting the other GP called in sick one morning, the first inkling I had that things were not to be so peachy. I was left with my schedule of patients for the day and fitting in a few of his as well. Don't worry, I thought, things will be fine. A week later the other GP didn't show up for work again. No one had heard anything and he was unreachable by phone. I learned that his father was quite ill and he had traveled back to South Africa to be with him. Completely understandable. A week went by, then another, then another, and no one had heard from him. In the interim, I was left as the sole practitioner for the clinic with a panel of 2600 to 2800 patients. To say that things were a little busy would be only a slight understatement. At the same time all this was going on, the Head Nurse informed me of her resignation, effective at the end of February. Breathe, Jenn, breathe. At this point I had been ticking along in the clinic with the help of some occasional locums who came in to help 3 days a week. All in all, it wasn't that bad. My partner arrived back in the country, but only to inform the clinic that he felt he needed to move back to South Africa to be closer to his father. Okay, I thought, I've been handling it this far, I can keep going. Surely they'll get someone else in to help on a more permanent basis. During this time, the only other nurse who had been working at the clinic longterm decided the work evironment was to unsettling and also decided to resign. This left me, an occasional locum, and two practice nurses, neither of whom had been working in the clinic for long, to see the patients.

They say that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. At this point I must have been a stone wall of fortitude. Imagine my gratitude when more permanent help showed up on the clinic doorstep today. My thoughts about ease of workload and perhaps even a holiday came rushing to the surface of my mind. Unfortunately, these thoughts were quickly crushed when I realized he was not going to be here for a month as I'd thought, but only 10 days. Sigh. Someday, I'll get the more permanent help I desire. In the meantime, perhaps I'll climb up on my stone wall and look out on a country which I hope to visit more of in the future.