Housecalls By Dogsled

Product Description

' People go north for a variety of reasons some stay for a lifetime while others can't wait to leave at the end of whatever term they have signed on for. The north tends to be either loved or hated with equal passion.' These are the words of Keith Billington who with his wife Muriel arrived in the Northwest Territories outpost of Fort Mc Pherson 1 700 miles north of Edmonton in mid-September 1964. They were among those who loved the North & stayed for six years. Keith a nurse & Muriel a midwife were barely into their twenties & fresh from England when they arrived eager to put their brand new skills to work. Their clients were the Gwich'in people who taught them how to snowshoe choose a dog team & live off the l&. These two young professionals were all the medical help available at the births of babies & the tragic deaths of other children they were the first to tend gun-shot victims & deal with illnesses made worse by the isolation. Their story also tells of caribou hunts fishing in summer lakes & travelling in winter by dog team of sun-returning parties & drum-dancing & New Year feasts. The book concludes with Keith leading a group who retrace the route of the tragic RCMP ' Lost Patrol.' This is a delightfully warm celebration of the north in the days just before skidoos & cell phones took the edge off the isolation.