Newfoundland lady caregivers
Let’s hope we don’t get another miserable winter like last year. (Apologies to skiers and sledders). I don’t like winter, though I have lived in some of Canada’s worst winter locations, including Timmins, Ont. and Newfoundland.
I spent four years in Newfoundland and the best word I can use to describe the Newfoundland weather is “abysmal”. And I’m not just talking about winter either. (But then, what would one expect of a rock sitting out in the North Atlantic?) If you asked a Newfie to describe the Newfoundland weather, he or she would likely say, “10 months of winter and two months of bad ski-doin’.”
Western Newfoundland is very mountainous, particularly in the Corner Brook region and, boy, do they get snow! I bought a 4x4 when I arrived there and, the first snowfall of the season, I had to abandon it in the middle of our street. A 4x4!
You’ll meet the hardiest people in Newfoundland, along with the warmest and most wonderful, including a group of 300 women from the Port Aux Basques/ Stevenville area, who are referred to a the “Newfoundland Ladies”.
These women are mothers, wives and family providers who, when the fishery collapsed, became in-home-caregivers to the sick and dying …. in Nova Scotia!
Two weeks out of every month, the Newfoundland Ladies travel from their homes on the seven-hour Port Aux Basques ferry to Sydney, Nova Scotia which, most of the time, is no walk in the park. Then, a six-hour bus ride to Halifax to live and work in someone else’s home, providing care.
All this, to pay their families’ bills. Two weeks away, two weeks home is indeed a big sacrifice; another of the great attributes of the Newfoundlander. I think there may be fewer of them going these days as the company that employs them now also employs ladies from Nova Scotia. Regardless, these are some very special women. I’m Fred Trainor and that’s a little good news. Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster, living in Okanagan Falls. To contact the writer, email: fredtrainor@shaw.ca