Hello (I bet you
understood that huh? See, your leaning to speak cold),
I don't know about you folks down in the deep south, or for that matter
those of you who just think you live in the north, but it's been a bit nippy
here as of late. Tuesday night it was minus 10 degrees and yesterday there was
a mild breeze making the wind chill minus 25. It is getting colder as we slide
into winter and our trusty indoor/outdoor thermometer keeps us abreast of the
current temp so we know how to dress on going out. Of course when I do go out my
4 wheelers thermometer tells me when it's zero or below. Yep, the 4 wheeler has
its own built in thermometer. I wrote about it before but in case you don't
remember let me enlighten you. If it's zero or below, when I sit on the seat of
the 4 wheeler, even as big as I am, it does not give. It's almost like sitting
on a board it gets so hard. So this helps me make the decision as to whether to
take the scenic or the direct route to my chosen destination. When we got the 4
wheelers we put a green goop into all the tires to plug small punctures and stop
slow leaks. When I ride off in the morning (shoot, its still below zero then so
in the evening too) it almost feels like I'm riding on small speed bumps because
the goop is so thick it sits in one place in the tires. It takes a while with
the tires warming up and spinning to work its way evenly throughout the inside
of the tires.
Saturday we went to Cathy and Gary's place to change the oil in the three 4
wheelers. Nooooo, I couldn't do it when it was warmer a couple of weeks ago. I
had to wait until there was snow and ice a foot thick on the ground and it was
zero degrees to do it. We let the machines run until I removed the oil drain
plug and lo and behold, for the first time while changing oil, I did not get
burned by the "hot" oil as it splashed out of the machine. When we went to put
the zero weight oil into the machine through the funnel we use that has a handy
filter built in, the oil was so thick it just trickled through the screen. It
took about ten minutes for the first quart to go through. We brought the rest
of the oil inside and sat it in hot water until we were ready for it then Cathy
and Gary kept it inside their coats until we were ready to pour it. It is also
difficult to do this kind of work with gloves on so you are constantly removing
and replacing them cycling the fingers from no feeling to intense pain as they
freeze then warm back up. Another problem that has arisen as of late is one of
the lenses in my glasses while generally snug with the screw tight, has taken to
falling out when I move from the cold outside to the warmth inside. You
encounter all sorts of oddities and unique problems in the intense cold. All
bodies of water are now completely frozen including the sound and of course the
locals have been out on it on their 4 wheelers and snowmachines. I have not
heard of any mishaps but I'm sure there have been a few not so serious ones.
This fat boy will not venture out on the ice for at least another month or two.
The temps have not risen above freezing for over two weeks now and for over a
week it has been zero or below. There were caribou in front of town again
Saturday and we either saw them out there or the black specks we took for the
caribou were people chasing them.
Daylight now lasts from about 10:30am until about 5:30pm. The other day
around six-thiry pm, I was carrying my dinner plate into the living room where
we usually eat off of TV trays and Patty, who was coming behind me turned off
the kitchen light. We were plunged into darkness so total I stopped in my
tracks. We're not used to it being dark when we eat dinner. The skies for the
last few weeks have been overcast with intermittent snow and the few nights when
the sky was clear the northern lights just refused to show. This week however
they put on an encore performance especially Sunday night. The sky was just lit
up with an almost pulsing, swirling green light. For the first time we were able
to make out some red in the lights. Up until now the lights have always been a
pale ethereal green. The multicolored lights you see in pictures we just have
not seen. Monday was lit up too but not as intense as it was Sunday. Yesterday
morning as I was riding to work at 7:30, they were swirling above making the
cold seem much less intense.
There are multitudes of things that are different here that you just don't
think about or have to consider in the real world. I was at a meeting yesterday
and the issue of patient ID's came up. When we medevac a patient they are
sometimes medevaced from the village to here, then we medevac them to Anchorage.
Other times they go straight from the village to Anchorage. Well, in the
emergency our patients frequently do not have ID with them. Heck, a lot of
folks in the villages don't even have an ID as the only place to get them is
here in Kotzebue and you don't need one to fly on the small commercial planes
that go to the villages. We have the problem that when they are shipped down
via medevac plane, when they are discharged and attempt to return via commercial
jet, they have no ID. As a facility we have to address making sure that when
they leave here they have an ID of some kind. Not only the patient but
frequently the escort that accompanies them too. One other problem is when a
patient is authorized in. (Meaning they were seen at the clinic, the CHAP
contacted the MD here and the decision was made the patient needed more care
than could be provided in the village. They are stable enough to come in by
commercial plane so by being authorized in they do not have to pay for a
ticket to Kotzebue.) When it is a child they of course need an escort. Very
frequently it's not the mother or father. It turns out to be a sister or
brother (sometimes over 18 and sometimes not) an Aunt, cousin, friend, or heck,
it sometimes seems like just someone who wants a trip to town. Then we have to
go through the process of deciding who has power to sign for authorization to
treat the patient or perform a necessary procedure.
We have two local ladies
that are going to nursing school here. Most of their college work is done
online as well as their tests. We have a nurse educator that works with them
and they frequently go to Anchorage for clinical experience. They were down
there last week and were assigned to the ICU. At the nurses meeting last night
they were recounting some of their experiences there and at a recent Nursing
conference that was held in Anchorage. They got to meet a nurse that worked
here in Kotzebue in the sixties prior to telemedicine. At that time they had
shortwave that was unreliable and CB's. She recounted a story told by this
nurse about how when there was an emergency in one of the villages someone would
ride to Kotzebue on a snowmachine or dog sled to summon help. One incident she
told of was word reaching Kotz about an emergency in one of the villages and an
off duty nurse volunteering to accompany a pilot in a private plane. When they
arrived at the village the visibility was bad and they crashed trying to land
killing the pilot and seriously injuring the nurse. When the second rescue crew
arrived, as they were removing the body of the pilot and attending to the nurse,
the child the first plane had come to pick up who had suspected appendicitis
was outside playing. This proved a catalyst for this nurse to go to Washington
to lobby for telemedicine and is a big part of why we have the system we have in
place today. I have mentioned before about folks coming to study the telemed
system and last week we had about 20 people from Guatemala here looking at the
system. (And looking a bit cold.) Today when we alert the medevac pilot of a
flight we do not tell them the patients condition, only that we have a medevac
and the destination. The reason for this is we want the pilot to make the right
decision to fly or not based on weather or other conditions without the pressure
of knowing the patients condition. We do not want to influence the pilots
decision as it might compromise the safety of the crew.
Patty and I are going to Anchorage this Saturday and we will be there for
two weeks lasting through Thanksgiving. I have training Monday and Tuesday then
will be free to shop till we drop (grocery that is). Cathy and Gary along with
Gary's mother, sister, and brother, will join us for Thanksgiving dinner so it
will be a table of around half white folks and half Inupiat. We are planning on
our traditional southern fair, with the oyster dressing made with Alaska oysters
however and for that matter I probably won't be able to get merlitons here
either. We do have a smoker in Anchorage although I don't know how well it will
work in the colder climate. We'll make due though. We will have homemade
cranberry sauce using the tundra cranberries we picked at the end of summer and
homemade gravlox made with local salmon (raw salmon cured with salt, sugar, a
bit of black pepper, and plenty of dill) served with crackers, cream cheese, and
red onions.
I mentioned in my last letter that we had two
weeks scheduled in Anchorage in February and were going to fly to Kodiak during
that time. We changed our minds and will stay there only one week. We found
out the Crab Festival is held on Kodiak Island at the end of May so that's when
we are going to go. See, we saw on the cooking channel a half hour show on the
festival and all the different activities, and all the different ways they
prepare crab and halibut. Like the Jazz Fest (minus the music) there are
multitudes of food booths. It looks like a real fun time and while we're there
we will check out the real estate and the job situation. (Maybe go halibut
fishing too).
Well here's hoping that the weather has cooled a bit for you folks and one day we hope to see you all again. Again I extend the invitation to visit Alaska even though I know the finances might be tight. After all, I suppose we could come up with a roof for you, some eats, and maybe some sights. Anyway you all take care and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
Carlo
PS One thing I forgot to mention was that my Environmental Services Manager yesterday got an email from one of our village Janitors (yep, we are responsible for the janitorial services for about 8 out of the 11 villages we serve). He was complaining he was using his own 4 wheeler to haul heating fuel to the clinic and garbage from the clinic because at the inland village where he lives, the temps have been in the minus 20's. Even though the village clinic is supplied with a 4 wheeler and a snowmachine, (these machines pulling a sled that has wheels for the summer and skis for the winter are the village ambulance too) neither will run due to the intense cold. He was complaining about the cold as he tried to get one of those machines to run. He wrote and said he must be, "loosing his Eskimo".
For problems or questions regarding this web contact
carlo@samsicles.net
Last updated:
08/29/05