Rural & Remote Practice: Workplace Risks & Tragedies

I have a social work friend who is now semi-retired. She has spent much of her life working in rural areas of different provinces and she is now primarily based in the Lower Mainland. 

Now that life has slowed down a bit from her busy work life, she has been reflecting on the vast distances and safety issues she faced driving from town to town in her social work practice in rural communities. At the time, she didn't really give much thought to her own safety, as these kind of risks came with the territory of rural practice. 

I would contend that denial might have also been a powerful defense mechanism, as it allowed her to travel vast distances to provide care and support to clients through snow, blizzards, terrifying road conditions and a great deal of uncertainty about what was up ahead on the road in front of her.

This story is a tragic one that offers a reminder of the workplace safety issues for members of our profession and others who work in rural communities providing services while working in isolation. 

My condolences go out to the family and colleagues of this dedicated professional. My rural colleagues also have my unending respect for the lengths they go to so that people can receive the care and support they need and deserve.

Community health nurse dies while travelling to remote town near Lillooet

Vancouver Sun (The Canadian Press), January 18, 2013.

 

KAMLOOPS — A community health nurse based in Lillooet has died while travelling to a remote town.

Lillooet RCMP say the woman's jeep veered over a 180 metre cliff into the Bridge River, near Gold Bridge, about 100 kilometres west of Lillooet, along a narrow, gravel logging road.

The accident happened Thursday morning, the day the victim regularly travels from Lillooet to provide health care in the communities of Gold Bridge and Bralorne.

Investigators say the 40-year-old mother of a four-year-old boy was wearing her seatbelt and survived the initial crash.

She died several hours later at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

A cause of the crash is under investigation.

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