John Thompson
Northern News Services

Lake Harbour (July 04/05) - Bonnie Howard recalls staring at the map inside the nursing station in the northern Ontario community of Kashechewan fresh out of school.

"When I looked at it, I asked where is the furthest north people live? Grise Fiord. I'm going to go there. And I did."

Bonnie Howard said farewell to the community of Hall Beach several weeks ago, where she's worked for the past 12 years as a nurse.

Almost three decades have passed since those early days, and she's spent that time intermittently working as a nurse in communities across the North - as well as several stints aboard icebreakers and Coast Guard vessels.

Most recently, she finished 12 years as a nurse in Hall Beach, a position she's left for a job-share in Kimmirut. She says she's still getting used to living in a place where there are hills again.

"It didn't take me very long to appreciate the big sky and wonderful sunsets in Hall Beach," she said. "I really enjoyed the people."

Howard counts her time spent with elders as one of the highlights of her job.

"They can roll with the punches very well," she said. "You don't want to watch someone die, but it's a real privilege to be accepted into someone's home to do that, to watch them die."

"A lot of them do it with a lot of grace."

Privilege is a word she repeats when describing her time spent in some of the more far-flung parts of this country.

She marvels at the Inuit ability to navigate from Hall Beach - which she describes as "flat as a piece of paper" with few discernable landmarks to the untrained eye - to Iglulik and Coral Harbour.

"It's still an amazement anyone can do that."

What does she enjoy the most about being a nurse? It's the same thing she enjoys the least.

"Every day is different. It's wonderful... and it's a pain."

But the wonderful parts easily outweigh the frustrations, she's quick to add.