NURSING AND NEWS OF MY LITTLE PLANT, WED OCT 17

I feel my best when I’ve had a lot of exercise, so am determined to walk to and from work for as long as possible. Because the temperature was 20 degrees and the wind was blowing steadily between 20 and 30 mph, I was mentally prepared for a more difficult than normal trek this morning and wore the heated vest Sandi sent. Fortunately, the winds were blowing my way and it was very fun watching the snow dancing in waves in front of me, apparently on their way to the Wellness Center too. The road along the beach was closed, so I took the road that is further inland and arrived at the Wellness Center in my normal 20 minutes. I was glad I had walked and felt ready to take on the day.

 

It began with a nursing meeting, going over many topics and then a more concentrated time talking about testing and follow up of Pertussis cases. There is a concern that many people aren’t going in for testing, so the disease is being passed to others. There may be an epidemic outbreak with infant and elder deaths, so we will make educating the public a priority. Posters and flyers are being developed for distribution in public places and people will be encouraged to be tested if they have symptoms when they come in for any other reason. There is a concern that there are limited NP testing kits at both the hospital and the Wellness Center, so some will be ordered from Fairbanks or Anchorage ASAP.

I met with Darlene to go over my training schedule for the next three months. I’ll finish up FEMA training as soon as possible and fly to my first village with her on Friday. We’ll be going as part of a team to put on a health fair in Atqasuk. Health fairs are put on every two years and many other entities from Barrow also attend including ASNA (Arctic Slope Native Association), the Fire Department, WIC, the veterinarian, the Infant Learning Center, the Eye Clinic, etc. The North Slope Borough uses a population based health care model which integrates all available community resources, each providing their area of expertise, and frequent referrals between themselves. This creates a more stream-lined health care system eliminating overlap and replication of services. From what I have learned, the model here seems to be effective with the normal amount of limitations mostly having to do with the flow of paper work. Because Darlene will be overseeing the flow of activities at the health fair, I’ll be assisting an ASNA RN with giving flu shots and will be responsible for educating about STD’s and obesity. I asked our office advocate about resources for doing these topics and she said that I will most likely be almost breathlessly busy giving flu shots, but recommended that I give a condom to each person signing up for one, advising them to use it and handing them a brochure about STD’s. More in depth education is given during individual appointments. Obesity is a sensitive topic among the native people here. Michelle, another very experienced public health nurse, says that they are genetically geared to survive very lean times, so store fat very effectively. Because there are no lean times now, their bodies don’t have an opportunity to burn the excess fat and many become obese. There is also a common belief that a fat baby is a healthy baby, so it is difficult to educate parents about childhood obesity. Fortunately the occurrence of diabetes among the native population is quite low.

My little plant looks very nice on the top of one of the shelves in my office. It’s happily doing its work of looking beautiful, providing living companionship and soaking in CO2 while supplying the office with a little more oxygen. I was elated when I called Alaska Airlines on Monday and learned that I had left it at the airport, but dismayed to learn that I had left it outside, probably setting it down when putting baggage into Darlene’s vehicle. I was shocked to learn that after several days of keeping it in the cargo office that it was to be discarded because it hadn’t been claimed and then overjoyed to learn that a TSA agent named Aaron fell in love with it and asked if he could take it home. I can’t quite describe my emotion asking if Aaron could be persuaded to bring it back to the cargo office for me to pick up. The agent there said that he was reluctant, but of course, agreed. I was very grateful that Colleen, the nurse practitioner at the Wellness Center offered to give me a ride to the airport at lunch time to pick it up, thinking that if I walked over to get it, it would surely freeze on the way back. My alternate plan was to wrap it in the heated vest and carry it back…this probably would have worked. Dilemmas like this would have never occurred to me before moving to Barrow.

Several of the staff eat their lunch together in the lobby of the Wellness Center, talking, some knitting, and all discussing funny, unusual or perplexing dynamics of work. I’m enjoying joining them and am finding that in this hour, I learn as much about my job as when doing active training.

Bertrand is on leave for the rest of this week and next, so Joanne will be using his desk in our office. I commented that the office seemed dark and that I might bring in a desk lamp. We both noticed that five of the florescent light bulbs were burnt out, so she suggested that I call Nellie to schedule a visit from Maintenance. All of the bulbs are replaced and many people, when walking in, are commenting about how bright the office is…maybe too bright. Michelle said that Bertrand liked the office dark…uh oh.

I spent the last part of the afternoon in Michelle’s office, going through her village case with her. I finally pulled up a chair as I was feeling very tired by the time she had explained what each form was to be used for and all of the possible complications of trips to the villages. It was very interesting, but I was glad when she snapped her case shut, smiled and wished me a good evening. She will be spending all of next week in Nuiqsut. While she’s gone, I’ll call Maintenance to replace any burnt out light bulbs in her office…not = ).

I opened the door at 5:30 pm and it seemed warm, maybe because I hadn’t taken off my long johns all day and had been very hot. I decided to walk and discovered that the same wind that helped carry me to work was now making it very difficult to walk home, even slapping my face with handfuls of snow from time to time on my trek. I fell once on a strip of ice, so will pick up a pair of trax for the bottom of my boots very soon. Without a car, it is difficult to accomplish things like this with our office located in Barrow and the main store and Risk Management where I learned one can get trax are located in Browerville. The window at the post office is open from 9 am to 5:15 pm and closed from noon to 1:30 pm. One can check their mail from 8 am to 6 pm weekdays and from noon to 3 pm on Saturdays. Otherwise it’s locked up tightly and there is no self-service available. People tell me that they’re very creative in strategizing about how to pick up and mail packages.

I enjoyed joining a group of women who meet at the library on Wednesday evenings for a knitting circle. It was fun meeting new people and seeing their projects. Before the others arrived, I called Dad and we talked about Charles’ Brower’s book called, “Fifty Years Below Zero." He had just finished reading it and I had just begun. It's fascinating and well worth reading if you’re interested in his adventures around the world before coming to Barrow, his life here as “King of the Arctic.”   Tomorrow is Alaska Day. We haven’t had internet access at home for the past three days, so have been unable to post to the blog or communicate with family and friends. Calling GCI, the internet provider, is on the top of my list of things to do in the morning.  The winds are expected to die down before morning.  We were all happy that the plane carrying many people, including Julie Serstad, the Deputy Director of Community Health, made it safely to and back from Anaktuvuk Pass where a health fair was held.