House Calls by Dogsled: Six Years in an Arctic Medical Outpost

by Keith Billington

"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 McPherson, 1,700 miles north of Edmonton, in mid-September 1964. They were among those who loved the North and stayed for six years. Keith, a nurse, and Muriel, a midwife, were barely into their twenties and 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 and live off the land.

These two young professionals were all the medical help available at the births of babies and the tragic deaths of other children, they were the first to tend gun-shot victims and deal with illnesses made worse by the isolation. Their story also tells of caribou hunts, fishing in summer lakes and travelling in winter by dog team, of sun-returning parties, and drum-dancing and 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 and cell phones took the edge off the isolation.

Genres: Canada, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Travel, Autobiography

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Dawn Brinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read about life in the artic in the 1960's & 70's as a medic.

[Amy Rudolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the memoir of Keith Bullington, who with his wife Muriel left England in the mid-1960s to staff a nursing outpost in Fort Mcpherson, 1700 miles north of Edmonton, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Knowing nothing of this part of the world, I thought this would be an interesting window into a completely different lifestyle, culture, and climate. It was, although it was not enormously well-written. It is essentially a diary by an amateur writer, told in what seemed to me an anecdotal,random and disorganized fashion. But it does show the challenges of life in so remote and hostile a location - deliveries of food once a year, the nearest hospital only accessible by plane, messages delivered in full hearing of the community 3 times a day by radio broadcast. The author clearly respected the Gwich'in people, the primary residents in the area, and resolved to enjoy as much of the authentic experience of living in the true north, learning how to drive a dog sled, hunt for caribou, and build a log cabin. The telling could have been more artful, but perhaps the stories are colorful enough and need no further embellishment.

[Joe Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine memoir about life in the Canadian arctic in the 1960s. The narrative weaves together events in the author's life more or less in chronological order, with some forays into specific topics. The book is quite rich in detail about food, dogs, village life, Gwich'in culture, even a little history of the Mounties. The fact that the author made an effort to dive in and explore the different aspects of the life - learning to dogsled, going on a caribou hunt, building a scow, building a cabin - gave him a very intimate knowledge that not every foreigner in the same situation might have had.

Of particular note is a short visit the author took to a Distant Early Warning station (Pin Main) during the height of the Cold War. A rare glimpse into the mechanisms of global nuclear defense.

The writing is a little bit of the anecdotal, meandering variety - but this is quite insignificant, and the narrative flows, full of interest, for the entire read.

One small nit I have to pick is that the included map seems to have a lot of detail about places not mentioned in the book and is apparently too small to include all the places that are mentioned. A lot of the important locations in the narrative seem to lie outside its edges. A map with a larger-scale perspective would have been helpful. So sue me - I'm picky about maps and appendices in books.

A good read about a time and place covered in very little other literature.

[Marion Malsbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the memoirs of a brave young British couple, Keith and Muriel Billington, that took a 2 year posting at Fort McPherson, an isolated village in the NWT in the 1960's. Keith was a nurse and his wife, Muriel a nurse midwife.

They served in a 24/7 nursing station in the village and served the Gwich'in people that lived in the town and the surrounding area.
At the beginning of their journey, they had no idea that they would fall in love with both the North and the people they cared for....and their tenure ended up being 6 years.

This book tells of their very interesting adventures they had while they were posted there. They were embraced by the community and in turn, they participated fully in it as well. Dogsleds, snowshoes, -50 temps, hunting, fishing, they shied away from nothing!

They treated all sorts of injuries, with the only Dr. a plane ride away and not always accessible due to weather conditions. They earned the acceptance and respect of the whole community.

Keith tells his stories with humour and empathy and in great detail of what life was like in the sixties in the North.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book, full of insights into the culture of the Gwich’in people. What they’ve had to deal with just to live is amazing. It also gives survival tips on how to live in an area where the temperature can go to -50°. It does all this with humor & the author is not afraid to tell his escapades where he does not come out ahead. He laughs at his mistakes.

[Jeff Burket · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable memoirs of a nurse and spouse (also a nurse) who spent years serving the local and native community in a clinic in northern Canada. And always delightful learning about some specifics about adjusting to the weather, culture, and logistics of a new location; and a good reminder that in the end it always is about the people and community you are with.

[Dhartridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A joy to read, due to the exuberance of the author in describing his experiences living in the Yukon, working with his wife at a remote clinic for several years. I appreciated his respect and admiration of his patients, including many indiginous people.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. The people of the north were so alive. Their constant generosity, ingenuity and friendliness were so interesting to hear about in a memoir as that is the reputation I'd heard previously. I learned a lot.

[Sam Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed it but I didn't learn as much as I thought I would about life in the 'cold'.
Missed out or never explained about certain aspects which left, me the reader, puzzled.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended Read! Really enjoyed this story of nursing in Life Below Zero!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

True story about married couple who were nurses in the Northwest Territories. Amazing story of their adventures and bravery in such a raw very cold land.

[Naokah Mistaken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book and highly recommend if you’re looking for a book full of stories of local northerners. The writing made you feel as if you were right there throughout the book. Loved it!

[Melanie Benoit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite interesting topic on the hardships of the north. There was some lacking into the writing constitution and structure but I really enjoyed these memoirs and the stories lived in the north.

[Alexandra Noga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the writing is not stellar, I found this a very enjoyable read.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attitude goes a long way. Billington and his wife moved to the Northwest Territories as nurses in the 1960s. There, they were responsible for health both in the village where they were stations and in outlying areas—places accessed most easily, yes, by dogsled.

The writing's not amazing here, but it really is the attitude that carries it. Billington tells stories about nursing, about expeditions into the wild, about raising children in a culture doubly not their own (the village being largely native Canadian, and Billington and his wife being...generic Welsh, for lack of a better term). It's almost all pretty light, but there's a really clear respect for the locals, and Billington is always ready to call out moments when he and his wife had to check themselves and their own expectations.

But also: The expectations of some of the doctors, who had only worked in the south, were unrealistic in isolated communities like ours. Muriel experienced this when a recently trained physician who was touring the north to gain more experience asked her during a birth where the delivery forceps were. As a trained midwife, she had delivered countless babies, always without forceps, and had only reluctantly asked this doctor if he would like to do the delivery out of politeness. She calmly told him that the last forceps she had seen were in Edmonton, 1,700 miles away (2,735 km). (153)

It's a pretty fascinating read all round. I'm looking forward to reading The Last Patrol when I have the chance.

[Anne Stenhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOUSE CALLS BY DOGSLED is an engaging account of the early professinal lives of nurse Keith Billington and nurse midwife, Muriel, who is Keith's wife.
I was fascinated by the whole business of living so close to the edge of the inhabited world. Keith starts the book with a hugely dramatic accident that was suffered by a local man, but it's not all like that. In fact one of the reasons he gives for their deicision to move on after six years is the tedium of 24-hour, 7 days on-call in the clinic in Fort Macpherson.
The book is a collection of memories culminating in the fascinating and tragic tale of an RCMP platoon, lost on the trails in 1910. Keith organised a re-enactment which was properly provisioned and supported. I might have wished the book had finished there because I didn't enjoy the final chapter when he and Muriel went back after 14 years to visit and count the dead.
Keith writes with warmth and humanity about the clash of cultures and the gradual encroachment of twentieth century forces. We watch his, and Muriel's, cultural absorption as he learns to wear the right clothes -Why are snowshoes a NECESSITY? - treat the sled dogs with both respect and admiration, interpret the regulations and save lives.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a sense of adventure and compassion in this book. A young couple heading off to a fairly isolated community in Canada's north. They embraced their new community learning to snowshoe and drive a dogsled and participating in community events. Their willingness to bend the rules by going to where their patients were, to learn their ways of life, was evident. This sense of bending the rules (what works in the south does not always work in the north) was seen among all outsiders who engaged with the community. The Billington's didn't want to just sit in their nursing station waiting for patients to come to them, they wanted to explore and engage in the ways of the people they were serving in order to better serve them. When they wanted to learn something new to them they want to experienced locals to learn from them. I see in this book an example of how interaction between Caucasians and indigenous peoples could be.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keith and Muriel Billington are English trained nurses. In the 1960’s, they immigrated to Canada to work in the Canadian North. Their posting was Fort MaPherson on the Mackenzie Delta, a plane ride from Inuvik. Billington relates their experiences during the six years they worked in the medical station. They made many friends from both the native and white population. While living there, they learned how to drive a dog team, survive in the wilderness, and deal with medical emergencies. The reader is given a view of life in that area before the Dempster Highway was built and civilization encroached. It’s a well written memoir.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keith does a splendid job in recounting his adventures in Fort McPherson, NWT. He and his wife, Muriel, served as community nurses in the 1960's, well before roads opened up this part of Canada.
The book is about people, mainly the Gwich'in, by also about the few whites who brought goods and services to this part of the world.
I recommend it as a good read in front of the fire with snow falling outside.

[Trudy Jaskela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billington and his wife, both RN's , wife midwife also, spent 6 years in Fort McPherson, NWT, about 120 km south of Inuvik. Nearest MD was in Inuvik. An airplane evacuation was possible if weather permitted. The book is about living in the First Nations community - the deliveries, clinics, injuries, dogsledding to see patients, extracting teeth, eating Bannock and wild meats, appropriate dress for the extreme weather, etc. Easy to read. Interesting 6 years.

[Carol Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful account of two nurses (a married couple) who worked at a nursing station in Canada's far north in the 1960s. The descriptions of the place and its people are vivid and full of obvious affection. The author and his wife immersed themselves in the land and the local realities, and it's no wonder that the people honoured them when they left after 6 years. I've read lots of other books about outpost nursing and medical experiences, but this is by far the best.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to give this book 3 1/2 stars. A young married couple newly graduated as RN's immigrate to Canada from England looking for adventure in Canada's north. They are assigned a nursing outpost station in a remote village in the North West Territories where they stay for six years. The author shares their expectations their rich experiences with the reader.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories. The writing wasn't great, and it didn't have very good flow, but the stories were enjoyable. The author described the scenes well so I could imagine being there. What an amazing experience!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and the stories in it. I really loved that Keith (the author) and his wife Muriel really connected to the people of Fort McPherson. I enjoyed the stories and you can really tell that he has a deep respect for the culture and his memories of his time there. I found the writing to be just okay. I thought the stories were all over the place and didn't really seem to have a rhyme or reason as to why they were in a weird order. I would have liked it if the stories were in sequential order or in some sort of order. I appreciated the story and being from British Columbia I love to support Canadian authors.

[Laurie Hutchison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read. Being a nurse myself, I enjoyed reading about the scope of their practise and how they managed in very remote locations working with what they had. A whole different way of life!