THE BLIZZARD, THE SURPRISE AND PROGRESS

I stayed at the apartment today, Sunday, deciding to take a day off from walking anywhere.  Along with the seven churches open this morning, only the grocery store and a few restaurants remain open for the rest of the day.  This is a haven for those who enjoy solitude and a much, much slower pace of life. 

I enjoyed most of my walks to work and back this week and am getting used to the temperature being somewhere between -7 and +10 ᵒ F when I set out each day, but my feet asked me for a change of pace, so I happily obliged.  I had studied the 70 page State of Alaska driver manual and planned on using some of my comp time to walk to the DMV and take the required written test on Tuesday.  The conditions were white out and the temperature cold, so one of my co-workers insisted on driving me there, about a mile from work, saying “we can’t afford to lose a nurse!” I was very grateful and was glad that I wasn’t someone that they could afford to lose.  I raced from her car to the door of the building, being pummeled by the wind.  When applying to take the written test, I learned that along with the other forms of ID I had brought, I also needed a copy of my birth certificate.  It was unfortunately at home, so this would mean my walking the mile there to retrieve it, walking back and then walking home again.  I was feeling tired and not excited about this extra round trip in the conditions so knowingly reduced myself to pleas that I knew would be and were answered with, “No, Ms Peterson, your school ID is not an acceptable form of identification.  No, your library card won’t work either.  I have other customers in line, Ms Peterson.  You really do need to get your birth certificate.”   

The wind was blowing snow at high speeds on my journey making it difficult to breathe and see at times.  It blew across my path in one direction going and the other returning, so both of my pockets were completely filled with fresh snow.  It really was that windy.  Because the walking was such an effort, I was very hot by the time it was my turn to stand against the wall and have my picture taken.  A very kind young Inupiat man who was next in line seemed to sense my discomfort and smiled at me, I think to illicit a better photo.  It may have been a suppressed laugh though that just surfaced as a smile.  I thanked him when I was done and he smiled and nodded.  In afterthought, I might have stayed and smiled him through his photo, but I had the sense that he had gotten a ride over and would be smiling without my help.  It was a relief to finally arrive home, enjoy some hot tea and salmon and to fall asleep knowing that I was now licensed to drive in Alaska.  The next step is to go through the training to drive a Borough vehicle.  I like the level of accountability here.  People are very conscious of Borough resources and I get the sense that infractions are very rare.  My supervisor told me that if a person happened to stop, say at the bingo hall, while in a Borough-owned vehicle, that his or her boss would know about it even before they were out of the car.  She’s new too and was sharing what her boss had told her.  I guess we’ll be walking to Bingo if I ever take it up...is not in my immediate plans however.  

It was wonderful to have the Wellness Center fully staffed this past week except for Liliana who will return this coming week from a trip to Anchorage.   Each individual brings their own energy, wisdom, insights, working style and humor…such a great group of people to be working with.  

We all received an email but asking specifically that Bertrand and I prepare an hour long radio talk show segment on infectious diseases to be aired on the local radio station live this coming Thursday.  I swiveled around in my chair and asked Bertrand if I had read the message right.  Were we going to be on the radio?  I don’t remember this being mentioned during my interview or hadn’t seen it anywhere in my job description.  He assured me that there were many things that fit into those two categories.  He said that being on the radio was his least favorite thing to do but that he was working on the transcript.  I suddenly remembered that I would be flying to Point Lay on Thursday, so smiled and wished him well in his presentation.  Not to be abandoned so easily, he zipped off an email asking for a replacement…unfortunately no one else was available, so the program has been rescheduled until December 20.

Something about me must remind Bertrand of his grandmother who used to edit all of his college papers…he talked about her for a while before casually asking if I wouldn’t mind editing the radio program transcript.  I felt honored as his knowledge of infectious diseases far exceeds mine, but did find some things to improve on grammatically, added a few symptoms of the flu (will spare you) and all that I had learned about Pertussis during my first week of work.  After finishing up, we did a virtual high-five and I told him that he could call me grandma any time.  I also told him that I thought we made a great team…what did he think about me doing the writing and him doing the broadcast?  “No way!”  Oh well = )  I did tell him that I had other plans on December 20^th and he smiled.

The health fair in Nuiqsut has been rescheduled to November 19, so I was able to finish my FEMA training this Friday morning.  There was a lot of information that didn’t relate to health care, but I was amazed at how organized and systematic the incident command system during a disaster is.  A teleconference put on by the University of Alaska Anchorage was held in the Allied Health Building, connected to the Wellness Center on Friday afternoon so I attended.  A pediatrician discussed neurological problems in children and presented a case study of a four year old boy with signs of intellectual deficits.  Participants contributed questions as well as meaningful comments.  It was interesting learning about the diagnostic tools used to determine ID and I especially found meaningful the comments by a school psychologist who said that it was important to not only look at a snap shot of a child’s intelligence, but to assess on an ongoing basis, introducing interventions and monitoring improvements in function, ability to communicate and IQ.  The second half of the session had to do with ways to tell parents about distressing news having to do with their child.  I also learned that seeing a physical anomaly is a reason to consider having a child tested for DD or ID as there is often a correlation.  One of the children we saw in the clinic last week was born with an extra pinky finger on one of his hands, had a skin tag just on the inside of his mouth and had a slightly misshapen head.  It was interesting watching Joanne assess him and talk with the mother about referring him to ILP, the Infant Learning Program that deals with developmental problems with children.  The mother was very receptive and grateful for the referral.

Joanne, who stayed at the itinerant housing with me for the past three weeks, was happy to return home to her family in Fairbanks on Friday night.  She lives and breathes thoughtfulness, always having her radar on for an unmet need.  I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of many of her large and small acts of kindness while we shared the apartment and while she trained me at work.  It’s not always easy being in a learning mode when being used to knowing my job well so I appreciated her positive feedback at the end of our time together saying that I was well on my way to being a great PHN.  The nurses have all agreed that they will be starting me out with adult or adolescent patients and then working my way down to the infants, as young as 2 weeks old who come in for their second PKU.  For little ones who fall behind their immunization schedules, being brought in usually means getting six shots instead of four.  I still get tears in my eyes watching the three pokes in each thigh, but am grateful that they’re being protected from some serious and life-threatening illnesses and am impressed with how quickly most of them respond to bubbles and stickers.  It wouldn’t do to have me in tears when I am giving these shots, so am slowly acclimating myself to what it takes to do this quickly and matter-of-factly.  It’s been a great week at the Wellness Center in Barrow, Alaska.