N.B. nurses travel to Yukon to give COVID vaccines after coming back from retirement

Beth McGinnis and June MacDonald never imagined coming out of retirement in their 60s would lead them to the Yukon. 

But that's where the two Fredericton women found themselves this month, answering a call for help from Whitehorse. 

This winter, the latest wave of COVID-19 managed to infect some of Canada's most remote communities and even crossed the Arctic Circle. 

In response to rising cases, the Yukon government advertised for nurses willing to fly in, to help with the response. 

By the time they saw that ad, McGinnis and MacDonald, both 67, had been "unretired" for nearly a full year.  

Since February 2021, they had been working five days a week in various vaccination clinics, mainly in Fredericton.

And according to the Nurses Association of New Brunswick, a lot of nurses, in the face of the pandemic, chose not to stay home. 

Over the past two years, the  association issued short-term nursing licences, or emergency temporary registrations, to 297 non-practising or retired nurses to assist in COVID-19 relief efforts. 

That's what made it possible for McGinnis and MacDonald to return to the frontlines. The chance to take their skills to another part of the country seemed too important to pass up. 

"I thought about it for 10 seconds," McGinnis said. "And then I said, 'Let's do it.'"

McGinnis and MacDonald also embraced the idea of going together as friends. 

They had known each other for the better part of their 40-year nursing careers and had taught together at the Saint John School of Nursing. 

"We're not afraid of hard work," McGinnis said." And we also have a good time."

Reached by video, near the end of their month-long stint, both agreed that the experience was richer than they dreamed.