Nishga News
The road to the Nass Valley
My Nisga’a is getting a bit rusty these days. Like they say – if you don’t use a language you loose it. It’s been years since I spoke Nisga’a on a daily basis. And I never did learn to say anything really exciting .
“Hi - How are you doing? - Where does it hurt? - It’s time to go to the hospital”. Basic working vocabulary. But fun!
And they all humored me by letting me try my low level language skills.
After all, I was only a doctor, while they were the Nishga - the "people of the river".
“Hi - How are you doing? - Where does it hurt? - It’s time to go to the hospital”. Basic working vocabulary. But fun!
And they all humored me by letting me try my low level language skills.
After all, I was only a doctor, while they were the Nishga - the "people of the river".
Tseax lava cone
The cone is surrounded by a 20km X 40 km lava field
My Nisga’a got a workout once a week -- the day of the travelling medical clinics up the Nass River Valley.
Young and very foolish, I would be up at 5 a.m. to load up my ’85 Dodge Van ( the same vehicle I still drive, for those of you who think MD means Mercedes Driver) , and head out from Terrace for a three hour drive over a gravel logging road. Past Bear Glacier, through the Tseax lava flow ( the Nisgha have their very own volcano) and on to the Nass River Valley and the Nisga’a villages.
Young and very foolish, I would be up at 5 a.m. to load up my ’85 Dodge Van ( the same vehicle I still drive, for those of you who think MD means Mercedes Driver) , and head out from Terrace for a three hour drive over a gravel logging road. Past Bear Glacier, through the Tseax lava flow ( the Nisgha have their very own volcano) and on to the Nass River Valley and the Nisga’a villages.
New Aiyansh
The closest Nisga’a village was New Aiyansh, and so I saved it for last, on the theory that it would make the long return trip back to Terrace less tiring. So I would start with Greenville – the farthest village, and then work my way back towards home. If I didn’t get too many flat tires along the way!
( The farthest village is actually Kincolith, but you can only get there by boat, and I have a deep seated superstition about going anywhere that my van can’t take me. But some day I would love to do a travelling clinic there by boat. )
( The farthest village is actually Kincolith, but you can only get there by boat, and I have a deep seated superstition about going anywhere that my van can’t take me. But some day I would love to do a travelling clinic there by boat. )
 Tseax lava field |
 Bear Glacier (not my truck) |
Lakalzap
People happy to see the doctor coming
Office hours at Greenville, or Lakalzap, were easy. They began when I got to town, and ended when I had seen my last patient. Everyone could tell when I arrived. I would just drive up and down the main (and only ) street, park in front of the Nursing Station, and go in for a cup of coffee while my patients strolled over for a visit.
Any people who did not happen to see my van would be alerted that the doctor was open for business via the communal party line – the CB radio.
Greenville had no phone system, but almost everyone had CB radios turned on all the time. The nursing station had one as well – the Nisga’a nursing assistant would get on the microphone and tell ‘em all “ Everyone that wants to see the doctor better get down here pretty quick, cause he ain’t hanging around all day!”
Any people who did not happen to see my van would be alerted that the doctor was open for business via the communal party line – the CB radio.
Greenville had no phone system, but almost everyone had CB radios turned on all the time. The nursing station had one as well – the Nisga’a nursing assistant would get on the microphone and tell ‘em all “ Everyone that wants to see the doctor better get down here pretty quick, cause he ain’t hanging around all day!”
Nursing Stations
Unlike many of the remote villages, all the Nisga’a settlements had well - equipped nursing stations, so there was no need to carry drugs all the prescriptions I might write with me in the back of my van. There were also well trained nurses, many of them Nisga’a themselves, who made the clinic run smoothly and efficiently. The Nishga placed a huge emphasis on education, and I was to find that many of the people whom I assumed had never left the Nass Valley actually had degrees from colleges in Vancouver.
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 Mouth of Nass River - the eagle is fishing too . . . .
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Canyon City
After seeing my quota of patients I would hope in my van for the next stop on the return trip – Canyon City. It was called Canyon City for a really good reason – it is on the far side of the Nass River, across a thundering great canyon. The only way into the village was to tiptoe across a rickety suspension bridge.
I had visions of myself falling through one of the slats in the bridge, hanging by one arm for several dramatic seconds, and then falling to the rocks and rapids far below. I’ve seen it done dozens of times in the movies.
Thankfully I always survived the round trip over the rapids.
I had visions of myself falling through one of the slats in the bridge, hanging by one arm for several dramatic seconds, and then falling to the rocks and rapids far below. I’ve seen it done dozens of times in the movies.
Thankfully I always survived the round trip over the rapids.
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Doing house calls by canoe
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Fishing Break
A bigger fish than I ever caught
Although one day the Nursing Station in New Aiyansh must have thought I had fallen into the Nass River and drowned. I arrived in New Aiyansh almost four hours later than usual. Faced with an entire waiting room of impassive brown faces all the excuses I had been making up vanished into thin air.
“ Sorry guys,” I gulped “ but they told me inCanyon City that the Spring Salmon were running, so I went fishing for a couple of hours.” This unleashed a torrent of discussion in the Nisga’a tongue, which was then summarized by the senior matriarch present. She stared me right in the eye and delivered the village consensus. “Good idea! If we was doctors we would’a done that too!”
“ Sorry guys,” I gulped “ but they told me inCanyon City that the Spring Salmon were running, so I went fishing for a couple of hours.” This unleashed a torrent of discussion in the Nisga’a tongue, which was then summarized by the senior matriarch present. She stared me right in the eye and delivered the village consensus. “Good idea! If we was doctors we would’a done that too!”
The lineup at the medical clinic
Waiting to see the doctor
Following that particular clinic I diagnosed a very pleasant young Nisga’a man as having acute schizophrenia. With the consent of his family I was going to take him back to the hospital in Terrace for a few weeks. I was tempted to ask him to share the driving, but was inhibited by the fact that en route he was participating in conversations that he could hear but I couldn’t. I dropped him off at the hospital aboutmidnight.
While I was there I got one of the nurses to check my hearing -- just to make sure that he was the one with the problem. And then home to bed and the regular routine -- until the next week’s visit to the land of the Nisga’a .
Dr. Patrick Nesbitt is a Family Physician in Maple Ridge.
While I was there I got one of the nurses to check my hearing -- just to make sure that he was the one with the problem. And then home to bed and the regular routine -- until the next week’s visit to the land of the Nisga’a .
Dr. Patrick Nesbitt is a Family Physician in Maple Ridge.
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