Polar Bears, Glaciers, and the World’s Highest ER
In our latest episode, a physician who’s worked on glaciers, in mud huts, and at the top of the world shares what it means to practice medicine at the edge of human limits
In the latest episode of How to Be Anything, we meet Dr. Jen Pond, a physician who practices in Canada’s northernmost territory, Nunavut. It takes her two days to commute from her home in British Columbia to her job in the Arctic Circle, in a village called Taloyoak. Population: 1,042.
I met Jen last year when I was writing a profile of Dr. Luanne Freer, the physician who created the emergency room at Mount Everest Base Camp. Jen had worked with her there and was kind enough to talk to me about what it’s like to live and work on a glacier for three months.
I kept in touch with Jen after the story was published, and she was one of the first calls I made when putting together this season of HTBA.
Hers is a life and career totally unfamiliar to me. While she flies pole to pole, setting broken bones and saving lives from the deadly effects of altitude change, I carry my space heater around my house because I can’t keep my feet warm.
Yet, it was spending so much time speaking to people like Dr. Pond and Dr. Freer that got me out of the house and into the mountains again. I grew up backpacking with my dad, I enjoyed rock climbing in college, and there was a time when I would run two half marathons per year, but somewhere in adulthood, I stopped taking physical risks. I didn't know I missed it until I did.
I’ll let you in on what it’s like to be a writer for a living: It’s all material. So every new adventure I go on, every solo camping trip (don’t tell my mom), and every mountain I summit: I can write about it. It’s a perk of the job.
What’s not in the episode
We do a lot of editing to cut the final episode, so some interesting bits don’t make it in, like this story about practicing medicine at the South Pole.
And this one, about the world’s southernmost toilet.
Now go listen to Jen’s story. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favorite shows.
Bye and thanks for listening!
Emily
Keep learning
A list of things mentioned in the episode you’d otherwise have to go Googling for:
A short BBC segment on Residential Schools, guided by a survivor of the system and a 60 Minutes segment in which survivors describe their imprisonment in the system
Information about Residential Schools from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, and more from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights
Travel Nunavut and Destination Nunavut are tourist sites about the territory, and both have great photos