Visiting the local clinic

     Today during class, Tracy the local Community Healthcare Practitioner popped into the room with little cups of fluoride for each student. Obviously the water we use is from wells and these kids eat candy and pop like it's going out of style. It made me wonder where they get dental care or any kind of health care for that matter. She told me I was welcome to come by the native Alaskan clinic anytime. A couple hours later I walked down the road with Rachel & the 2 Grossmann boys to check it out. The clinic has recently moved to a new building and it was pretty impressive. There is no doctor on duty, but one flies into town every few weeks. The rest of the time, the clinic is staffed by Tracy with assistance from Tabitha, a local villager who is trained as a Community Healthcare Aid. I believe Tracy has the equivalent of an EMT certificate. Tabitha received specific training for her job. Anyone who has completed 8th grade can take the training for the aid position which requires classes and on-the-job training. There is an on-site pharmacy with just the basics-antibiotics, Tylenol, cough medicine, etc.

     The place was pretty high tech. Their fancy equipment can send EKGs and

One of the Grossmann boys is pretending Tracy is the dentist

blood pressure reports to consulting doctors. One room even had a computer equipped with a camera so that patients can be seen by a doctor in Anchorage if the problem is significant enough. It was kind of like high tech skyping! Tracy said they use this "telemedicine" for physical therapy and mental health counseling as well. They even have a dental room that is used by teams of dentists and their assistants who fly in several times a year. She says they bring boxes and boxes of supplies and try to see everybody in town when they set up shop.

Telemedicine

Sign posted at the clinic
We won't see this one in Lincoln!

We slipped into the garage where the ambulance is parked right alongside the portable sled that they use to transport patients through rough terrain or over the snow. It is usually hooked to a 4 wheeler or snow machine. The sled had wheels on today, but the interchangeable set of runners was at the ready. In cases of serious illness or injury, patients may be taken out by medivac helicopters. Keep in mind we are 3 1/2 hours by air from Anchorage.

There is no cost for this health service for the native people. Native is defined as anyone with a minimum of 1/8 Indian heritage. For the rest of us, the news is not so good. No insurance is accepted. Pay up front. Matt's strep throat last winter was $300, DPT, tetanus shots for the 2 boys $900. Yikes!

I had asked another villager earlier about funerals. She said the local elders usually choose not to be embalmed and as a rule, someone just builds a wooden box and digs a hole. There are no village regulations regarding burials which usually is in the church graveyard. She did add, "But that's not the case if the troopers get involved." She said the troopers get involved in the case of suspicions of foul play or anytime there is a need for an autopsy.

She also said that in most cases, the family of the deceased clean and prepare the body, there is a graveside service and then a big family meal.

     There is also an Eskimo graveyard. I'm trying to understand how Eskimos are different than the Yupiks and Aleuts in this village. Apparently the term is used to describe natives from SOME other tribes who came down to this area from the north when jobs in the (now abandoned) cannery were plentiful. For some reason, these individuals were not well accepted. The word Eskimo means "eaters of raw fish" which appears to be distasteful. The housing for this group of natives was set away from the other homes and they were segregated to their own graveyard as well. We were told a story about an "Eskimo" that died in another area and had expressed his wish to be buried back here in Pilot Point. A plane brought the box with body to town. No one was there to claim it so the pilot just unloaded it on the edge of the runway where is sat for 2 days. Finally a local villager took pity on the poor guy and got him buried.