Day One
On Monday, March 15 I left for a bush village located on the western side of Alaska, 162 air miles from Bethel and which sits on the Yukon Delta, 15 miles from the Bering Sea to assist with a research project.
The research team that I traveled with consisted of four individuals: Lead Research Nurse, Nurse, Microbiologist and myself. We arrived in Alakanuk and the plane left us on the runway. A small pickup from the clinic soon arrived to pick us up and we rode to the clinic in the back of the truck with all of our gear.
My first objective was to set up screening clinic this had to be done quickly as research study participants started arriving as soon as they heard that we were in town. I met with the clinic staff on the use of the facility and then set up tables and chairs and signage inside and out while the others prepared the exam room and materials for sample collection. I helped get all the forms ready. Arriving in the village was quite the experience. To say that the accommodations were sparce would be an understatement. I slept in the school in a classroom and used a bathroom that you could smell before you saw it. My standards of cleanliness here are very obviously not the community standards. The big question for me “is is it safe to drink the water”? Some say yes and some say no. Maybe I should have brought my camping filter.
Day 2
To fully understand the study, I had the Nurse swab my nose. I was surprised that it did irritate the nose. Definitely not a pleasurable experience, but not that painful. My first objective today is to teach the participants about the research study. As there are so many children I had to ensure that I used words that they could understand and use developmentally relevant language.
Today I had the chance to talk with the CHA/P about rural health and to discuss our experiences in the community. There are numerous health disparities and living conditions that we have observed first hand. Around 10% of the population does not have running water currently; some of this is due to frozen pipes and the rest just due to the fact that their residence is not plumbed for water. The disparities are a continual challenge to rural health workers and life in rural Alaska.
Sleeping in the school was kind of strange. I slept in a classroom that was around 85 degrees. There were teenagers pounding at the door to the school in the middle of the night and running around outside yelling. Yet with all of the heat in the building there was no hot water to wash with. Working so late last night—I did not learn this till this morning. There is nothing, like a cold, stinky shower to start the day. The school is very run down and dirty. It was not the comforts of home, a hotel or camping—the first night I did not sleep well. I did not know if the teens were going to come in in the night or what time I needed to be up before the teacher came to class and I was sleeping there. Also I was not sure if I bought enough food—finally found some silverware and plates. There are a lot of unknowns—lots of hunting down items.
Day 3 & 4
Today I was able to see the clinic in action. An elderly man arrived in the village and was not able to get out of the plane. He arrived at the clinic with assistance later in the evening and we woke up the CHA/P. The man was incoherent and hypoglycemic. The CHA/P seemed uncertain of what to do next and the research team was able to assist in stabilizing the patient. He had an unsteady gait and rapid heartbeat. He was nervous and spoke in Yupik. His daughter was able translate. Returning to Anchorage was interesting we had to switch planes and the bags did not fit with the passengers on the first leg of the first flight and had to be snow machined to the next village where some passengers got off of and our baggage got on.
