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I arrived in Kotzebue, AK at 0742am 12/31/08 after a nearly 20 hour flight/layover plan to get here. It was dark, cold and unlike anything I had ever seen. After a brief visit to the local grocery store where I quickly learned the price of a gallon of milk is $12, I was taken to my temporary home for the next 3 months
I am 30 miles above the Arctic Circle in a small town of about 3000 people, most of whom are Alaskan Native Americans. Kotzebue sits on the Kotzebue Sound which is fed by the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The hospital I work in serves 11 native villages within about a 250-300 mile radius of Kotzebue. There are no roads to get into or out of town. It is only accessible by airplane, as are the outlying villages.
The hospital is Maniilaq Health Center. Primarily, I work in the Emergency Department with other temporary and permanent nurses and doctors. The ED has 6 beds with 2 trauma rooms, one OB room, one cast/orthopedic room, one pediatric room and one general medicine room. The inpatient area has 17 beds and 2 labor and delivery suites.
The villages have health clinics that are staffed by health aides with some medical training. Advanced care is provided by specialty clinics, telemedicine and air medevac. Patients who are too sick to stay in the villages are brought to Maniilaq or other hospitals either by medevac or commercial airplanes.
Nurses are expected to be autonomous and highly skilled and experienced as clinical resources are limited. Team work is imperative and a pleasure. While the number of clinicians is small, the ability to work together with limited resources, varied backgrounds and diverse experiences creates a unique and challenging work environment. Creativity to problem-solving is encouraged and paramount.
Alaska is as diverse in terrain as it is in its culture. The arctic is considered tundra and relatively dry. However, I have experienced record snowfall and blizzards since coming to Kotzebue. The natives say it has been the most active winter some have ever seen. Snow drifts are as high as 10-15 feet. Many roads are completely snow covered and will not be cleared until the spring. I have experienced walking to work in -50F temperatures with -66F wind chill. Again, some of the coldest the natives have seen. Kotzebue Sound is completely frozen and serves as a roadway for snow machines, dog sleds, and foot travel.
In addition to "lower 48" type diet, the natives still practice the subsistence way of life. Mainstays are caribou, "muktuk" or whale blubber, seal and seal oil, ptarmigan (bird), and a variety of fish, mostly halibut. In the spring and summer berry picking produces a winter's supply of salmon and blue berries. Salmon berries are a berry that is a deep pink color similar to Alaskan salmon.
Animals in the arctic include polar bears, seals, whales, caribou, moose, fox, wolves, wolverines, ravens, ptarmigans, muskoxen, and coyotes. In Kotzebue, the most visible animals in town are the ravens. When able to venture out of town the other animals can be seen. In addition to serving as food sources, many animals are used for their skins and furs for clothing and warmth. Most natives view the taking of an animal's life as a spiritual experience. They are thankful to the animal and the Spirit for the animal giving its life as a food source and for warmth. One native shared that hunters should not boast about or speak of going out on a hunt as they believe the animal will sense the audacity of the hunt and the encounter will not be a spiritual one and the animal will not be willing to give its life or even be found. Every part of an animal is used and does not go to waste.
Alaska is one fifth the size of the entire US. There are more caribou than people in the entire state. Approximately one third of Alaska's population lives in Anchorage. From North Carolina to Seattle, Washington is about halfway to Alaska, for me. This was a lot of reality for me because that meant I flew all the way across country but was only halfway to Alaska. I am approximately 200 miles from continental Russia but only about 50 miles from the time zone divide of Russia and Alaska.
Words and pictures cannot relay the experience. Alaska is a place to truly experience and make it your own reality.
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