Nursing in Barrow

Ah…my nursing class is over and I’m finding myself with some wonderful evenings of free time.  It’s taken several days to unwind and to begin to enjoy what feels like a normal several hours after work before succumbing to a deep winter's sleep in this dark and interesting place.  I could get very used to these sorts of evenings and to waking up without a nursing assignment on my mind, at least until they begin again on January 12.  That should be plenty of time to feel rested and reinspired.  The wind chill has caused temperatures lately to be between minus 20 and minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  It will drop as winter goes on to 50 to 60 or possibly more degrees below zero necessitating, even now, warm clothes and for me, interventions like hot tea after trekking for any distance.  Kind people stop often on the roads before and after the lagoon and offer rides on cold and windy days.  I seem to need a great deal of exercise and enjoy it as well, so usually find myself smiling an

It’s been some time since I’ve written to the blog.  Did I mention in an early post about how fortunate I am to be working here with an associate degree in nursing?  A condition of my hire was that I begin a bachelor of science in nursing program within a reasonable amount of time.  My supervisor said that all State of Alaska public health nurses are required to have earned a BSN and that that would be in my future also, if I accepted the position.  My first year and a half included what felt like continual work-related training and long hours at the clinics in Barrow, the villages and in the community, so it wasn’t possible to consider beginning a BSN program until this past spring.     I love school and have taken quite a palate full of courses over the years before and after earning my ADN, so the prospect of beginning a program was enticing.  It took some research to sort through the various online offerings to determine which one would require the least amount of additional p

I haven’t written to the blog in quite a while but had a dream about hiking in Sitka early this morning that brought up some thoughts that I wanted to get down before they slip away.  Life in this remote place can have quite a pace and one consciously has to slow down and reflect or it just might not happen.  Friends from here have gone fishing in Kenai and Homer, camping in Adak, and have visited Nome, Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage as well as other rural parts of Alaska this summer, returning with fish and stories of hikes that just about pushed me over the edge of my current state of contentment, momentarily causing me a sense of longing to be above sea level and to be hugging a tree instead of in the Arctic.  Some reported waking in rain-soaked tents, being invited into villagers’ homes to share meals, or being buzzed by swarms of mosquitoes but all shared how wonderful it was to see and explore other parts of Alaska.  My dream reminded me that I haven’t shared photos of

I couldn’t stop laughing as Jennifer and I, both cold to the bone, made our way from Simmonds Field, along the dirt path and then through mud puddles, each clad in heavy jackets, hats, gloves and tall rubber boots, both hanging onto a handle of her cooler that was filled with gallon sized zip lock bags containing fermented and unfermented whale meat, intestines, kidney, heart, tongue, maktak and whipped caribou fat.  A collapsed folding chair was balanced on top as we walked, with me making brief stops to double over laughing at what we must look like and how different my life is here.  Jennifer laughed too while saying "What are you laughing about!?  We live in Barrow...this is what people do here!"  I know, I know, but it still strikes me as very funny for us to be doing it.  We had arrived empty handed and curious at close to noon to partake in Saturday’s Nalukataq, a celebration of the spring whale catches by the Hopson and Adams crews.  We saw many people sitting o