Nursing in Barrow

On the flight back from Kaktovik the Friday before last, I talked with Michelle, one of the three other nurses who work in the Wellness Center, the Public Health Nursing Clinic in Barrow.   She was returning from Nuiqsut, a village between Barrow and Prudhoe Bay, both west of Barter Island and Kaktovik where I’d spent the week.   Michelle mentioned that she was hoping to spend more time in Nuiqsut catching up on IMZ (our term for immunizations) as there were many children who were overdue.   There is an ongoing goal of engaging the community health aides in giving IMZ, but many are reluctant.  They serve the community in other important ways, but most of them don’t like to make babies and young children cry by giving them shots.  Consequently, our due lists for children who are due for immunizations can get to be very high in the villages.  When Michelle mentioned the possibility of giving up Point Lay to focus on Nuiqsut, in the back of my mind, I hoped that it might work out

Good morning from sunny Barrow.  We’re entering my favorite time of year when there is still snow on the ground and on many days, the sun shines for hours over the treeless landscape.  For me, the effect is something like an expanse of light infiltrating my soul and transposing thoughts lacking gratitude to ones completely filled with them.  Life holds challenges, setbacks, and worries for others at times, but these all fade into a feeling of knowing that all is really right with the world on a level that transcends the physical.  I’m reminded that there is always something to be grateful for, even in the most challenging of life’s situations.        I was in Kaktovik last week, staying in the upstairs quarters of the clinic and putting in 12 hour days.  I loved just about every minute of my time while there, but missed my daily bike rides or walks to work so I came home to Barrow determined to resume my daily outdoor exercise routine to include weekends.  Yesterday afternoon