A day on the ice

So what does my day look like here on the ice?

McMurdo station is like a little town.  It's main objective is to provide a space for scientists to study topics like climate, wildlife and space.  In order to accomplish this, there has to be infrastructure in place, things like telecommunications, meteorology and transportation.  As the programs have grown, more and more people have been employed to support these scientific endeavors which leads to a whole staff of people.  We have several significant building projects in place which also employs not only construction workers but more cargo and fuel workers.  Most of the science that happens here is done in the summer (Sept-Feb) and the station can have as many of 1500 people here during the summer season.  In the winter, the scientists head home but staff is still here to keep the station going until the next summer season.  There ends up being around 150 people to run this place in winter, including 2 in medical.

One of the things I enjoy about the people here is finding out where they came from and who they are.  Many have been applying to come down here for years.  Even I applied to come down a couple years ago.  Perhaps the least coveted job is in the galley, serving our food and cleaning our dishes.  Yet I've found that many of the workers are highly educated, some with PhDs or have careers back home in a variety of fields.  Many initially applied for other roles but in the end, were happy to accept a job in the galley in order to have this unique opportunity to work in Antarctica.  Thankfully they seem to be in good spirits despite being very over-qualified.  And we all live together in this strange town, so what does it matter where you work?

Highway 1 through Building 155

Me and my PA's role is to take care of any medical needs that come up.  In the summer when the population is more robust and there's more going on, there are additional staff including a couple nurses, a surgeon and a dentist.  Over winter, we expect there to be minimal activity in medical.  We also hope there's less or no emergencies as our capabilities are limited with such a small staff.  Compared to summer, those who are accepted to be on station have more stringent criteria around health and physical capabilities to help facilitate a successful and healthy winter season.

Our little hospital is right across the street from 155, the main building on campus.  155 houses the cafeteria, many of the dorm rooms, the store, HR, lodging office, the TV and radio stations along with activity coordinators.  We call the long hallway down the center Highway 1 and there's a lot of activity through the halls as people move through.  I initially lived upstairs in 155, so had an easy commute to the cafeteria.  The hospital is across the street which can be accessed on foot with minimal effort.  That doesn't mean it isn't cold and blustery.  But warmth is within reach after enduring less than a minutes walk.

My walking commute from 155 (blue) to the hospital (left)

I work 7:30am - 5:30pm Monday - Saturday.  Myself or my PA are on-call alternating nights which really means we're both always on-call since we'll usually both respond if there's a medical emergency.  So far not a big deal.  Much of my time is spent reviewing the hospital's equipment or going over medical scenarios that might come through our doors.  In reality we see just a handful of patients in a day and the concerns are usually fairly minor.  But you just never know and it's good to be prepared.  We also have a group of volunteers including our firefighters who we can call if we need more than 2 sets of hands or there's a bigger emergency.  Thankfully we've been able to recruit a good group of people that want to help out so we're working on training them.  We'll even hold a mock MCI (mass casualty incident) in April and see how our volunteers do.

In addition to seeing an occasional patient, I attend a couple of leadership meetings weekly.  We go through how each of the departments are doing and any concerns that come up.  Medical is there as a support though we're not integrally a part of most of the daily happenings, so it's nice to catch up at these meetings and hear the goings on.  

After work I head to dinner and have the evenings free.  That often looks like me chilling out in my room, catching up on e-mails or social media since we don't have fully functioning wifi at the hospital.  We do have several lounges in the dorms, a coffee house, a couple gyms and even 2 saunas that are available to everyone on station.  It's still light out so we can go on a walk down to see the penguins or just set up in a lounge and enjoy the beautiful view out over McMurdo Sound and the Ross Sea.  Our light is quickly decreasing, ~17 minutes less light a day and on April 25th, the sun will stop rising for a few months.

Wave formations seen over the frozen sea

No one lives permanently in Antarctica- that's not a thing.  There are some people that stay for a year, sometimes even 18 months.  But no-one is from Antarctica and there's no such thing as citizenship or residency here.  I'm slowly learning more about how this all works but here's a link to the Antarctic Treaty that has been around since 1959 and helps keep Antarctica a peaceful, cooperative and scientific haven for those who have the unique opportunity to spend time here.  

The Antarctic Treaty | Antarctic Treaty (ats.aq)

I hope to have more fun activities to report the longer I'm here.  Meanwhile I'm getting the hang of being here, what my role is on this island and hoping things continue to go smoothly.