Nursing in Barrow

Kaktovik clinic staff, Michelle, Annie, Mary G and Mary S.  Great group of women along with Glenda who was on call at night, so might have been catching up on some rest. Next several photos are of a drive around Kaktovik before taking off on Friday morning. The Brooks Range in the distance to the south. A few sea gulls...a prelude to the thousands of  birds who will migrate here in the summer. One of several intersections in Kaktovik.   Snow fence used to stop drifting snow from blowing through the village. Several whaling sleds.  Whaling takes place in the fall in Kaktovik, normally the second week of September. Part of the DEW (Distance Early Warning) Line, a radar system to detect Soviet  bombers during the Cold War. Pumping at the lagoon. There is no terminal at the airport.  People wait in their vehicles for the Era plane to arrive. Touch down and coming our way. Taxiing in to where we'restandi

One of the things I love most about my job as a public health nurse on the North Slope of Alaska is the opportunities it provides to fly in a relatively small airplane on a frequent basis.  Lifting off from Barrow last Monday morning with the other seven passengers in the Beechcraft 1900, the thought filled my mind, “this is what it’s all about.”  It’s not, of course, but in the moment it provides such a strong connection with feelings from childhood, of joy, excitement and an immediate detachment from the routine of daily life.  The flight to the village I’m assigned to, Kaktovik, first lands in Nuiqsut, a small village southeast of Barrow, in Deadhorse, near Prudhoe Bay where there are many activities related to oil exploration and then finally in Kaktovik on Barter Island.  It takes approximately 2 hours to reach Kaktovik from Barrow and three hours on the return trip with a total of six take offs and six landings, my favorite parts of flying.  On the ground again, what my nurs

Prior to taking off at Barrow Flying into Nuiqsut Changing planes in Deadhorse. Banking to the left over open water. Looking out of the clinic quarters.  This could have been at anytime day or night as the sun was always shining. From the clinic quarters. On a walk around town Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning walk...more below. The emergency room at the Kaktovik clinic

These Arctic Ocean sea ice pictures were taken at various locations along the coast off of Barrow on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, May 18, 2013   On many Saturday afternoons throughout the year, the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, usually referred to as BASC, hosts talks having to do with a wide variety of topics.  This Saturday, Nokinba Acker, who coordinates the program, invited the community to hear three professors from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and some of their 22 students present on their recent visit to Barrow to study the sea ice.  The UAF program, partially funded by the National Science Foundation, accepted applications from graduate students from around the world and provided those selected with an introduction to some of the ways sea ice is studied by scientists…how it grows and decays, its physical properties and how varying dynamics determine life beneath its surface.  Participants spent a week researching areas of i