Hi Yall,
I haven't written for a while as we have been really busy. One of the ways I try to sort of keep in touch is by updating the website. However since they "fixed" it, I haven't been able to update it. Their contact area is still inaccessible and there is no phone number of course. We are still trying to get another server but Cathy says we have to get in touch with the current server to release the domain name. So please don't give up on the site.
As I said, we have been busy. For those of you in the medical profession, JCAHO is due the first week of September. You know what this means in a hospital-total panic as management acts like the barbarians are at the gate with the battering rams. For those of you not in the know (be grateful), JCAHO stands for Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals and I don't remember the rest, but close enough. Every three years, just like another Jason slasher movie, they come around to inspect every hospital. If you pass the inspection you get to continue to get government reimbursement for little things like Medicare and Medicaid claims and other government goodies. If you fail, you go to bed without any dessert (or dinner, or lunch, bed, room-heck, or anything else). Now a hospital can continue to operate without the approval, (I think) but as so much revenue is generated by government reimbursement it would not survive. Again, you medical folks may be more in the know than I and please let me know if I am wrong. But this is my take on it. Patty is a human resources specialist now and is in the middle of this hurricane. She is in an 8-5 job now Monday through Friday but in true Patty style she goes in on Saturday to work-alone of course. She has not yet become acclimated to living here, just can’t make her understand that except for emergency medical personnel, work does not exist here after 5pm weekdays or on weekends. The previous human resources personnel bailed out about two months ago and left one heck of a mess and superwoman-I say that with affection-is trying her best to set things right. Oh well, enough on that. One more thing though. I know that if and or when I change jobs again, I will ask when the next JCAHO inspection is before signing on the dotted lines!
I have taken a charge nurse position which I swore I would not do. I see things that I might be able to improve and at the encouragement of my coworkers I took the job. There is a lot more to it than the title implies. I won't go into details but it keeps me busy. The hospital has the Acute Care area which encompasses the 17 bed inpatient side, OB, and the ER, this is where I work. It also houses the Ambulatory Care Clinic which is where anyone here in Kotzebue (or people with non emergent problems authorized in from the villages) goes for routine doctor's care. They take appointments or walk ins. There is also the Specialty Clinic which does scheduled procedures such as upper GI, Colonoscopies, and other procedures. Not two weeks after taking the charge position I was called into the director of nurse’s office and offered the job of managing the Ambulatory Care Clinic and the Specialty Clinic. I turned it down.
I am signed up again to start flying medevac though. Nurses were not flying due to the age old problem of "who's the boss". Now that the petty territorial problems have been ironed out we can again sign up to fly. I am not sure about it for two reasons-one I do not like flying, and two-I am having trouble with motion sickness due to my bifocals (curses to the age old problem of getting older {beats the alternative though}). Also after I went through the course on what to carry in case of a plane crash for survival (what's on your person is survival gear-what's in your bag is camping gear), I kind of wonder what the hell am I doing! I am looking forward to giving it a try though.
The last week has been a tough one. As I have said in the past, Alaska has the highest accidental and suicidal death rate in the nation, and the region we live in has the highest in the state. In the last week we have had one self hanging, one suicide by gunshot, three drownings, a natural death, and two bodies up from the lower 48. The worse part about this is that depression here in the Eskimo community is rampant-if I could say why I would be the first one to ever do so. Couple that with the fact that by my estimates, probably 60-70% (I really think it is higher) of locals over the age of 14 drink on a regular basis (at $50.00 a fifth-$200.00 in the villages). You can see why the physical and sexual abuse and the suicide rates are so high. Another thing about the locals. In the lower 48 many attempt suicide but the percentile of completions is low. Here they are good at completing the act. They choose lethal methods-hanging and gunshot. Also, like the lower 48, when one completes a suicide there are usually multiple other attempts by friends or relatives. Saturday at work, in our five bed ER we had five suicidal patients. Two were on monitors unconscious, and three awake and at least somewhat cooperative. There were two more coming from the villages with ingestions of various substances. As there was another drowning yesterday, I expect more. In all but one of these as far as I could tell, alcohol was involved. When these people sober up they are usually cooperative and pleasant. When they are intoxicated they can be violent-especially the women. (A note though-homicide here is very low, at least documented homicide, and they keep it and the abuse among themselves). While this was going on we got in a pregnant woman who was bleeding, a man who tried to cross a stream on a 4 wheeler and was washed out to sea spending 2 hours in the frigid water clinging to his overturned 4 wheeler (they float-upside down) with a temp of 91, a baby with burns to the hands and of course the various I couldn't go the regular clinic so I came to the ER type patients. Are we doing any good here? I think so, though I just won't go into it again right now. It took too much out to just type this paragraph.
Also in the last week there was a structure fire which we did not participate in as we were all working. There was an engine fire on a 4 engine plane sitting on the ground where Cathy was able to roll with the fire department. There were five search and rescue missions-again we did not participate in due to work (three were body recoveries of the above drownings, one was the man on the 4 wheeler, and one a boat load of kids in trouble with the supposed rescuer taking on water). Another note-a large percentage of SAR's (search and rescues) are really body recoveries due to the harshness of the area. Enough of the depressing stuff but I am trying to impart the realities of life here.
The temps are still in the 40's-60's with the lower temps when it is raining. It gets dark now about 1:00 am and light again around 5:30 am. I actually saw the moon and a star the other night. They say the northern lights become visible again in late August. I am looking forward to seeing it.
The Salmon berry season is over and right now you can pick all the blueberries you want. In another week the cranberries will be ripe. While on the subject of food, yesterday we stopped in at the fire hall after the SAR was complete. When a SAR is going on the fire hall is the base-all kinds of food shows up. Well we were told to go out to the department pickup and take what we wanted. Under the tarp was a whole bunch of fresh caught salmon. We took five home, cleaned them up and put em in the freezer.
Enough for now. It's sunny and the outdoors beckon. Gotta take advantage of it when we can.
Take care there,
The Samsicles
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Last updated:
08/29/05