Nursing in Barrow

Thoughts pass through my mind often of things I might write to the blog if time allowed. I had thought that finishing my BSN would create space for a more balanced life, but instead, it pulled me into a higher degree of responsibility at the clinic spending most of perceived free time working many evenings and weekends. In October when the PHN Coordinator position became vacant, I was asked to apply but declined, thinking that it was beyond my abilities and a position that I definitely didn’t want to fill. I was reluctant, but agreed to fill in as the Acting Coordinator, thinking that it would be a relatively short assignment. Four very rewarding and life-changing months later, we’ve filled the position. Time seems to be opening up again.  We’ve also filled one of the two open nursing positions and Bertrand is back from four months of paternity leave. We’re for the most part, just about fully staffed. We’re recruiting for one more nurse if anyone knows of a BSN who wants an adv...

Ahhh...it feels wonderful to have pushed the last "submit" button on my last assignment of my last RN-BSN class this afternoon. I've been preoccupied for the past two and a half years with finishing this nursing degree that I knew was required at some point after finishing my ADN program and passing my RN licensure exam in 2011. What a gift it's been to have had an opportunity while living here in Barrow to work online through the University of Texas at Arlington and to have completed my BSN degree now. My class graduates next Saturday...well, I do too, but will be happily enjoying time with my family in Washington instead and will attend ceremonies by way of imagining being there, maybe. I've never met any of my instructors or classmates, but feel as though I know them very well. We've worked together on projects, discussed many topics related to nursing at length and some have also traversed US history, political science and American literature courses along...

I'm trying to decide whether to ride my bike or to walk to work today. One morning last week the weather report looked incredibly grim with visibility at less than 1/2 mile, high winds and a subzero temperature. I hadn't opened my blinds before leaving, so was pleasantly surprised that the sun was shining and the winds hadn't picked up yet...a glorious morn and an enjoyable walk on the still frozen lagoon. On the bike ride home from work yesterday, the strong, cold winds and I fought it out...I think it just wanted someone to toss around like a lion does its cub. It had almost lifted and definitely propelled me towards work earlier in the day. This morning NOAA, a reliable source of weather conditions most days, reports a wind chill of -11 F with winds out of the east. Here's a peek of our weather here. To bike or not to bike...that is the question... Detailed forecast for Northern Arctic Coast Today Partly sunny. Flurries. Areas of blo...

I'm feeling very rich tonight. My serial visits to Anchorage and multiple orders though Amazon Prime have resulted in my cupboards completely reaching their saturation points. I have eight liters of olive oil, bags (and bags) of dried figs, Goji berries, nuts, quinoa, flax, chia, sesame, sunflower seeds, 10 tins of sardines, pounds of frozen fruit and salmon, bottles of sesame oil, apple cider vinegar and soy sauce. I am stocked for a good, long time with all of these wonderful commodities. The drive to have an abundance of supplies on hand came from the almost tiresome routine of ordering food staples every two weeks. Not meaning to take this for granted or to be ungrateful in the least, but along with doing the wash by hand most weeks, it has become a bit of a chore and all without the enjoyable experience of bumping into friends while shopping. Another dynamic of the online shopping experience is the multiple trips to the post office that are required to pi...

Glenn and Anne's hut at NARL Ah...I haven't written for some time now but somehow it feels right this morning.  I'm sitting at my pine desk after a wonderful night's rest in my own bed.  It’s wonderful to have taken this for granted in the past but to find renewed joy in it now. Contrasts and change seem to heighten a sense of gratitude for me, pushing me into a pleasant and welcome state of mind.  I just recently returned to my apartment after enjoying eleven days of  house/cat sitting out at one of the huts at NARL, the old Navy Arctic Research Lab.  Big Boy, Anne and Glenn’s smokey-gray, long-haired, affectionate feline was in need of companionship and feeding as well as were the two fish in the large murky tank and the multiple, active, chubby worms in the indoor compost bin. All-in-all, it was a great eleven days.  The hut is quite large although it looks small from the outside. I’m still washing clothes by hand at my apartment, a weekly ritu...

I took these photos the summer before last but missed posting them. When out with Mari for a beach walk last weekend, we saw the same varieties of jelly fish and some, this year, with longer tentacles. They're beautiful and sparked my curiosity. Some years one sees them populating the beach with ice bergs floating on the sea in the background, so the water can't be very warm. It's interesting that they can live in the Arctic environment here.  According to Natalie Angier in an article she wrote for The New York Times (June 6, 2011) called So Much More than Plasma and Poison , jellyfish inhabit all the oceans of the world and are the oldest multi-organ animal, believed to have been in existence for 700 million or more years.  Here's a link to her fascinating article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07jellyfish.html?_r=0

It's been some time since I've visited or posted to the blog but in looking back on my last entry, I could have left the impression that I didn't survive the outing to scout for polar bears.  Unfortunately there were none who wanted to be seen on the Saturday Jan, Mari, Rita and I ventured out in the small car Jan had borrowed. It was a wonderful afternoon though with the sun beaming from low on the horizon, promising longer days and the ability to see again the stunning Arctic beauty after a long, comfortingly dark winter. My father passed in early January.  I'd been fortunate enough to see him and Mom several times over the past year and know that he's in a brighter place now.  Our family and his many friends will miss him in ways that are difficult to describe but I think feel his presence to some degree at different times.  The sound of his laugh is easy to recall and I smile remembering listening to his thought processes as he explained something to me, alway...

Although I've seen polar bears while on nursing trips to Kaktovik, I haven't seen one in Barrow yet. The whale remains are taken far out of the village to the point where bears can enjoy them without human contact.  This notice came through the North Slope Borough email recently.  It was welcome as knowing there are polar bears nearby provides a possible opportunity for people here to see them, but also serves as a reminder to be alert to the danger they pose. https://sp.north-slope.org/Public/Documents/2161/20141203140119.pdf Several friends have told me that they've driven out to see the bears over the past two weeks. They saw a sow with two cubs who seem to be living in one of the cabins at the fish camp beyond the location of the Naval Arctic Research Lab (NARL) and Ilisagvik College and this side of the point. The pups go in and out of the cabin easily but the sow takes some time squeezing through the door not made for someone her size.  A male bear has been seen...

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 ...

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 r...

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’...