Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
for an aggressive form of breast cancer. Her story brought to sudden focus the
challenges faced by everyone who travels to and works on the Ice.
Prior to travelling to the Ice, all personnel must pass rigorous health screening
that includes chest X-rays and tests for diseases and conditions such as hepatitis and
HIV. A doctor is in residence at most stations, certainly during the summer, and
most have facilities to conduct a wide range of basic treatments. Some, like the
Chilean Teniente Marsh and the Argentine Marrambio stations, have small
hospital facilities, not least because they also have to provide medical support for
the families who live on these stations.
Just like the rest of the world, communication in Antarctica has dramatically
changed in the last 50 years and most stations have internet and telephone services
allowing doctors to use telemedicine techniques for both diagnosis and treatments.
Remote health care has now reached a very sophisticated level with station doctors
able to discuss cases directly with consultants elsewhere in the world and send
back digital X-rays or ECGs for diagnosis purposes.
Scientists and staff who go to remote
field stations communicate back to their
Antarctic home base either by high-frequency radios or increasingly by email.
Field parties normally have a scheduled time to make radio contact and report on
the weather, progress and any problems that might have arisen. Satellite phones can
be taken to the
field and pre-paid phone cards as well as email are the way most
scientists and staff communicate with their families back home. You can now surf
the internet from many Antarctic stations and the real problem has become
communications bandwidth on the satellites as people begin to expect the same
level of connectivity that they have at home.
Choosing staff to winter-over
-
or even work through the summer
-
is not a
science, but it de
nitely requires both experience and attention to detail. A big part
of the decision on who to hire is based on how individuals will
fit together in the
overall team. The system for selecting staff varies widely across countries
some
use psychological testing, others do not; some draft in military personnel, others
employ only civilians.
Of course, candidates who want to work in the Antarctic need to be skilled in
their speci
-
c area; whether they are carpenters or chefs, microbiologists or
engineers, those chosen need to be experienced and
flexible. But on top of the
'
work
experience
, people need to be emotionally intelligent, tolerant and self-aware, able
to deal with con
'
ict, stress and feelings of homesickness.
People who are most successful working in Antarctica are enthusiastic about
their work, but are laid back in their approach to life. Obviously, everyone has
different values and morals and in a normal working situation, people do not see
their co-worker
s personal life in such detail. But at a small research station, living
cheek by jowl, there are no secrets. Antarctica is an isolated place, far from friends,
'
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