Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A New Addition


I became an auntie again to this beautiful little girl, Noelle. She made her grand entrance on 11/19/05. Weighing in at 7lbs 9 1/2 oz!! Way to go Amy and Jerry!

I am blessed ... I now have 2 neices and 2 nephews.

Welcome to the world, Noelle!

More Island Pictures




Some more island shots.... Emon Beach is the "family" beach and is the larges beach on the island. Kwaj is kind of shaped like a boomarang and in this picture is looking across the lagoon to the southwestern tip. DCCB (the big square building) used to be "the end of the island" until they built the GBRP Radar beyond it. You also see a man made rock jetty that separate Emon beach from the "ski boat area" Good for waterskiing/wakeboarding because it is protected.

Kwaj has basically 4 types of housing: BQs (bachelor quarters) - Dormatories basically, but each room has a little kitchenette and bathroom, Trailers - (silver no less), Hard housing, New Housing and Domes. "Hard Housing" are cement brick type housing - square with a flat top and "NewHousing" are more conventional duplex & 4-plex homes - sheetrocked walls instead of cement brick.

They tore down all the silver trailers at the north end of the island and put up dome homes. There are 2 and 3 bedroom domes. I have not yet been inside of one, but everyone seems to like them and apparently they hold up well in the sunny, humid, salty environment. This group of homes pictured is just Ocean-side of new housing past the CRC. I am taking the picture on the perimeter road behind the CRC. (for those who are familiar with the island layout) This is basically opposite of Emon Beach!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Halloween 2005



Always a big event on Kwaj. I love trying to figure out a costume. This year I waited until the last minute.... I spent hours on-line looking at "last minute Halloween costumes" and after a long nightshift decided on a wind-up doll. Luckily our local thrift store (Bargain Bazzar) had a silly blue poodle skirt and poofy white shirt. The knee socks are from an old soccer uniform and the wig was a lucky find at the local "convienience store" Ten-Ten. I made the crank out of styrofoam and tinfoil. I didn't win the costume contest though...

Photos:
(Top) The pre-club crew - we broke Julie's bed taking this picture!! I really wanted to hear her explain that one to the furniture warehouse!
(Bottom) My friend TC (pimp daddy) and I

Where I work





I am a nurse on Kwajalein. I came from a large Cardiac Unit (CCCU) at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. Our unit was beautiful with state of the art equipment, a large staff, and all the tools needed to do anything that needed to be done.

Kwajalein Hospital has a 2 bed ER, 2 bed ICU, one L&D room, one Operating room and 3 patient rooms (2 double rooms and one triple occupancy room). Quite different than Stateside hospitals. Healthcare in this remote setting comes with its own set of unique challenges; the unavailablity of medications, supplies, equipment.... running out of medications, limited flights that arrive and depart the island, and long flight times to large medical facilities are just some of the challenges. I must say, the staff here are excellent and everyone here makes due with what is available. Creativity ensues!

Photos:
Patient Room (yep, that is 3 to a room!)
Nurses Station. The windows in the back lead into the 2 bed ICU
Kwaj Hospital ER
Kwaj Hospital ICU

My New Home


Well, I moved from Honolulu to Kwajalein back in September of 2005 and finally started a blog to keep all the wonderful people I met, friends and families updated on what I'm up to. As many know, I lived on Kwajalein "Kwaj" from 1996 - 2000. I left Kwaj or "PCSed" in 2000 to attend nursing school in Fort Collins, CO. After Colorado, I lived briefly in Plano, TX with my sister's family before moving to Honolulu, Hawaii. Itchy feet? Wanderlust? You name it. Here is a picture of the little Island (uh, Atoll actually) that I am now calling home. The island is about 3 miles long and appx. 1/2 mile wide!