Ashley Kroyer, AVC 2020, traveled to Nain and Natuashish in 2019 as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of reflective writing.
When I think back on the Chinook Project and our time in Labrador, I think first and foremost about how much we laughed.
I was expecting to enjoy myself, I was expecting some degree of fun, but I was genuinely and wonderfully surprised by all of our laughter. During the set up and take down of our makeshift clinics, in between seeing almost 200 patients, and through all the clinic days that started at 8 AM and ended at 10 PM, we laughed. At our evening rounds, during our Friday night "kitchen party" (featuring card tricks and ukulele tunes) and while piling in to the back of pickup trucks, we laughed. I realized this team of five students and 4 fantastic clinicians, through some magic, just "clicked" so well together. I realized that we were having fun, and in doing so, we were better able and willing to fully soak up our experience, to learn and keep learning, and to push through the long days. I realized, above all, that we were all so happy. In the future, when I think back on my fourth year, I will remember Chinook and how happy I was. This candid photo speaks a million words as to how many laughs I have to look back on. Thank you, Nain, Natuashish, and Chinook 2019 for giving me a hundred happy memories to cherish and to recall on any of the rough days ahead.
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