Paperwork is finished, we're ready to work!

Final day of paperwork.  Our week of integration into the medical staff of Maniilaq Hospital is complete!  We also got our blood work back and I discovered that I was not vaccinated for or had mumps!  

Today, we worked with the dental software and packed needed equipment and supplies for our Monday flight out to the village of Selawik.  Learning more about the Selawik clinic, it has not seen a dentist since Covid hit over a year ago.  So, they aren't sure what it will look like and what it has or doesn't have as far as supplies.  We fly out Monday morning, unpack and set up in the afternoon, then see patients Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then fly back to Kotzebue Friday.  We leave for home on Saturday.

Additionally, we are discovering, that the administration is anticipating that this will be 'our clinic'.  We are to set it up as we wish and return during the rest of the year to see patients.  In other words, The McKelvey Clinic.  Hmm.  

So, in the meantime, it remains cold!  Still in the teens, not quite as windy this afternoon so the wind chill is only -1.  But, snow flurries all day.  Our hotel is about a half a mile from the hospital so the walk in the morning is a good wake-me-up.

Finally, below is our 'dinner table' in the hotel room.  Burritos tonight.  We made sandwiches for lunch today but splurged on a $6.00 order of french fries in the hospital cafeteria.  Life in Kotzebue.

-7 degrees windchill and the whales have arrived!

 A brief note today.  We spent all day in front of the computer completing 20 sections on healthstream.com.  An online hospital competency platform that covers everything from HIPAA to bloodborne pathogens to disaster protocols to what you are supposed to do with an active shooter in the hospital.  Then, after each block, there was a competency exam.  But, we completed them all and we are now ready to fine-tune our skills with the dental software tomorrow.  

We also got a thumbs up to travel to Selawik on Monday.  Weather looks good, (for now), our dental assistant has been chosen, the clinic should be usable and there is a place to sleep.  Will be nice to start seeing patients!

Now, my title......after a balmy 30 degrees the last few days, it started to snow yesterday and the wind really picked up today.  High of 20 but with the wind, the wind chill registered -7!  We could really feel it walking between the hotel and the hospital.  Jeans, ski jacket, neck wrap and wool hat didn't cut it.  It was COLD.

Whales?  Another factor to consider which patients (and employees) show up for care or employment.  Whales are starting to migrate in, which means people need time off to hunt!  For many in the villages, it is their main food source for the year.  Can't miss that opportunity, a toothache can wait.......

Yes, there are cars, trucks and loaders in Kotzebue but you see 
a lot of snowmobiles (called snowmachines up here), quads, and 
Polaris RZR's.  No helmets, no speed limits, no age requirements.
Just going from point A to point B.

Savaqatigiiksugut

 Yep, Savaqatigiiksugut, We Are Working Together.  This is the mission of the Maniilaq Association.  Today was an all-day employee orientation.  As mentioned in the preview yesterday, we talked about everything an employee needs to know about working for Maniilaq.  All attending were ready for full-time employment, except us.  But you can't wear the employee tag unless you check all the boxes,

Tomorrow is becoming proficient in the dental software, Dentrix, which we used in our practice, so just catching up with that.  Our travel to Silawik is still on track.  They are dealing with a water issue in the village, so we are waiting for the latest update.

Some of you are asking where and what we are eating.  First, we were told that there are only four restaurants in Kotzebue, did I mention that the 5th burned down in the last month or so?  We have tried two with two more to go.  Our latest find is Little Louie's.  For breakfast, their signature dish is the "Train Wreck" which is layers of toast, hash browns, sauteed onions, bell peppers, eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, and ham topped with country gravy!  (Glad the hospital is only a block away)

Breakfast and lunch are on our own and we have eaten in the room the last two nights.  Gloria made cornbread in the microwave!  Turned out great.  A new perspective on 'home cooking'.

Meeting the docs

Day 2 of onboarding. More meetings and a full tour of the 17 bed, 88,000 sq. ft. hospital. They are considering our employment as permanent! They are grouping Gloria and me with others who have moved here and are ready to start full-time. So, we are learning a lot about the hospital and its software including full access to our patient's medical history.  

We continued talking to the two full-time dentists today and I was also in the operatory as they saw patients. Rebekah and Zazz (short for something!). Both great gals and excellent dentists. We also met Stephanie a DHAT, Dental Health Aid Therapist. She is similar to, say, a nurse practitioner in medicine. Two years of training in New Zealand. She can do simple fillings, extractions and cleanings with additional emphasis on prevention and education. Another excellent provider. 

 So, with that update, a few more pictures from the community of Kotzebue.

I have no idea what this sign says or what it is for.  I googled it, nada.

As mentioned, no roads into Kotzebue, EVERYTHING comes in by plane.
Note in the top picture, Pampers, toilet paper, bottled water, etc.
Bottom picture is more freight.  Pumps, ice maker (?), a motorcycle, etc.

A map of the 12 clinics.  Note where Kotzebue is.  Gloria and I are going to Selawik 
next week.  We were told we may fly out there on Friday to check out equipment
and supplies, return for the weekend then back on Monday.  We'll see.

Tomorrow, another full day of employee training including cultural sensitivity, an introduction to Kronos, their workforce management software and discussions on infection prevention and HIPAA.  Oh my.

Onboarding at the Maniilaq Health Center

This the view from our hotel room.  The Chukchi Sea.  It is only navigatable 4 months out the year.

After Gloria took a sunset picture at 10:30 last night, a good night's rest, and a pickup by Kirk our supervisor at 9am.  He was late due to longer rounds at the hospital and noted that when spring breaks and fall descends attempted suicides go up in the Eskimo villages.  They are still not sure why.  Interesting, though.  

 He also spoke of the impact alcohol has on the native population, (horrible) and what the two new marijuana dispensaries joining the one liquor store will do to the community.  Challenging health care issues are ratcheting up by the day.  

We spent the morning at HR.  Pages of forms to fill out and federal-level fingerprinting kept us busy most of the morning.  A great staff of young, mostly native employees.

The afternoon consisted of fit testing for our N-95 masks, reviewing covid-protocols, new tetanus shots and a 7 vial blood draw.  They are very thorough at this hospital!  After all of that, we finally get to the see the dental clinic!  8 operatories.  It has been 'covid-tized' so lots of sheets of plastic hanging from the ceilings and air purifiers.  As in the lower 48, we are on the 'back nine' of covid so they have relaxed some protocols from 2020.

Fit-testing the N95 mask

We also met the dentists that work in the clinic.  Ladies, one who is moving to Chicago this week, another who moved last week leaving two.  All very friendly and welcoming.  They are glad to get help with the almost overwhelming dental needs of the local population as well as the 11(!) village clinics scattered around the tundra.

Tomorrow, a full tour of the hospital and training on the dental and medical software we will be using.

Bonus Photo.  Reindeer stew.  Why not?

Masks on Planes

Routine transit from California to Alaska. But, when we arrived at row 24 on the SEA to ANC leg, the gentleman in the window seat was sitting there without a mask!  Before sitting down, Gloria asked him to put on his mask, which he reluctantly did.  We're thinking this may be an uncomfortable three-hour flight, or if he takes his mask off again, an empty seat once they kick him off the plane!  But, in conversation, turns out he is a nice guy, works in the oil industry; he crews on ships that service the offshore rigs in Alaska.  Postscript, he never wore his seatbelt......

Speaking of Anchorage airport.  Huge fuel stop for 747 cargo liners to and from Asia, we must have seen 15 take off or land while we were waiting for our flight.

                                                      Springtime, the ice is beginning to break up                                                                                    

Kirk, our contact, met us at the Kotzebue airport.  First up, Covid test!  They have been very aggressive in their testing and vaccinations in this part of Alaska.  The younger generation will go the Anchorage for the weekend, get infected, then return and infect their whole village,  Kirk said one flight had 12 who were infected!  They quarantined them in Kotzebue before letting them return to their village.

Kirk gave us a quick tour of the town, we are in the 'melt' now so lots of potholes full of slush and people discover that the potholes can be knee-deep.  Kirk squared us away at the hotel and left to continue helping pull people's cars out.  Lesson: carefully drive the gravel side streets in town.

Tomorrow, Kirks picks us up at 8:30am and takes us to the hospital to start our orientation.

How did we get here?

 Good question.  Well, it all started almost a year ago.  Gloria was at a National Ski Patrol clinic and met a fellow patroller who is a dentist.  In conversation, Gloria discovered that she routinely went to Kotzebue Alaska as a locum to do dentistry.  So, after a 10-month Department of Indian Affairs paperwork journey with numerous staff changes in Kotzebue and Covid, just for good measure, we finally got a thumbs up to fly up to this part of the world just north of the Arctic Circle.

Dentistry is pretty similar to what Gloria and I have been doing in service and mission work over the years.  Differences?  It's colder, no scuba diving but the Fed's pay us.  Tradeoff.  We fly out of Sacramento Saturday, April 24 with a layover in Anchorage arriving Sunday afternoon on the one daily flight Alaska Airlines flies into Kotzebue.

That's Russia to the left of Kotzebue

So, typically for these blogs, I tried to post daily.  We do know that the first two days are orientation in Kotzebue, then a bush flight out to a small, remote clinic for our assignment.  I hope to post again Sunday night.