Nursing in Barrow

I quickly finished up the day’s charting and cleaned off my desk before racing out the door last Monday afternoon, not wanting to be late for my six month evaluation meeting with the Deputy Director of Community Health.  The lagoon had a watery look to it and I’d found that riding in soft snow on it was nearly impossible, so I took the road between Barrow and Browerville instead on this sunny day.  It was so sunny, in fact, that quite a bit of snow and ice had melted along the road as well, forming good-sized mud puddles.  I didn’t anticipate needing fenders this early in the spring, but wished that I had already purchased them as I unavoidably bounced through more than several puddles before reaching the Health Department building.  I feel fortunate that in Barrow one can arrive at a meeting or event wearing Arctic gear, rain pants, rubber boots and a new streak of mud up one’s back and not feel out of place or conspicuous at all.  The meeting went well...

I missed posting these when I wrote about stopping in Fairbanks and spending time with my friend, Ron...what a fun and interesting day!  Thanks again, Ron = ) Beautiful view of Mounts McKinley and Foraker on the flight between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The terminal at Fairbanks International Airport I'm pretty sure this used to be View Crest, watching my Dad hand tool the wooden signs over the years that have eventually been replaced with this one.  A wonderful place to grow up, 2.5 miles out on the Steese Highway.  See the small view of the magnificent birch trees that grow in abundance in Fairbanks? Shot of a portion of the large facility at the Birch Hill Recreation Center where the system of cross country ski trails, named after Ron's and my high school skiing and running coach, begin.  Ron wrote several weeks ago that the Junior Nationals were being held here. Very fun memories of Coach Whisenhant and his wife, Betsy.  I remember him...

A friend here recently broke her leg…the diagnosis was a spiral fracture to her right fibula requiring a soft cast and no weight bearing until it heals, hopefully within the next six weeks.   I knew that she’d fallen on the ice several times since winter began.   When I talked with her after hearing about her break, she shared that she fell and sprained her ankle several weeks ago, most likely causing a hairline fracture.   This latest fall on her stairs compounded the injury, completing the fracture.   I was able to look at the x-rays with her  and the nurse practitioner and could feel how encouraged she was to see some healing taking place even after a week and a half.   It’s challenging altering life in Barrow to accommodate crutches and relative immobility.  Plus there is the fear of falling again with having much less stability.  It’s been heartwarming to see how co-workers have volunteered to help on many levels.  M...

When I returned to Barrow, it was very good to reconnect with my friend, Valerie.   She emailed with an invitation to lunch or dinner and mentioned that she was selling her mountain bike, asking if I was interested in buying it from her.    Coincidentally, I had spent a good amount of time while in Washington thinking about how I could bring a bike back with me.   Could I somehow box it and check it on the plane along with my clothes dryer, guitar and large suitcase?   It didn’t sound reasonable and would be expensive, exceeding the allowable measurements and pieces of baggage.   So not this time…the dryer, I felt, was a necessity and it didn’t seem right to leave the guitar in the back of my stored vehicle when we could be at least attempting to make music together here in Barrow.   I love biking…it’s always been very close to the top of the list of things that bring me deeply felt joy.  I love the freedom of moving forward, pedaling, g...

The boxes I mailed to myself from Washington arrived two weeks later, filled with several large Costco bags of almonds, raisins and figs, hemp hearts, three boxes of my favorite spice tea, several tubes of toothpaste and packages of dental floss, all things that would cost three times as much to purchase at the AC store here in Barrow. Unpacking them one evening, I felt more than rich in food stuffs, but also rich knowing that my children, Lisa and Peter support my being here.   Lisa had made a trip to Costco before my visit and with calculating how long it would take to go through what she had purchased, I made another trip with Peter while in Bellingham.   As you can see from the picture of the almost empty boxes of clementines / manderines, they’re popular, but expensive at our grocery store, AC here.   Fortunately, I had stocked up on naval oranges at close to a dollar a pound while in Fairbanks.   The roads are being plowed often and some of the major ones...