Day 1
We are finally heading out to Alaska today for spring break! This is not the normal spot for college students to go for spring break. I am so grateful to have this oportunity to travel to Alaska and see how the rural nursing is different from our way of nursing in Minnesota.
After a long six hour flight from Minnesota to Alaska, we finally made it. It was late when we first got into Anchorage and had a late night dinner at a place called the Bear Tooth grill. It was our first Alaskan meal! It was pretty good and the waiter that was serving us told us about all the places we would need to visit before we left. When we finally arrived at our house it was pretty late and we were all exhausted. It is a huge house with three different floors. Each floor has its own kitchen and fridge. By the time we got in and unpack we all went to bed.
Day 2
Today we went site seeing in Alaska. The mountains were just amazing and did not look real. A picture did not do it justice. We also went to the Wildlife Reserve. We got to see a moose, eagle, buffalo, a wolf, and so many other native Alaskan animals. On our way back to our house Andrea showed us a place were we could get glacier water right from the Mountain! It was literally the best water I have ever tasted!
Day 6: Driving down to Homer!
Before driving down to Homer we stopped at the Traditional Healing Medicine at the Alaskan Native Medical Center. It was really interesting how they are trying to incorporate the traditional back into their ways of healing people and also back into their culture. They do not distribute any of the herbs there. They show the patient which types of plants can help heal them from their Healing Garden. Then it is up to the patient to decide whether or not they want use the product or not. The healers also have to take things slow with the native people, because sometimes emotions come up and it becomes to much for them and they don't want to come back. I think this way of practice is really interesting and all the team members communicate very well together. The physician, traditional healer, and who ever else that is involved with the patient meet up together once a week to discuss the types of treatment that is going on with the patient. They do this, so everyone knows what is going on with the patient and the types of medications they are on.
Today we drove five hours down to Homer and we saw our first our first wild moose today ! :) I can't get over how amazing the mountains look here in Alaska and how blue the water is. We stopped by a river on our way to Homer and it was just beautiful. The water was crystal clear and really pretty blue.
Day 7: Following School Nurse
Today was the day we got to follow the school nurse around an see the different kinds of care they provide at schools. I was at an elementary school today and my nurse's name was Tammy. She was such a passionate nurse and you could really tell she was so passionate about her kids. I was really surprised to learn how much sexual abuse and self harm these children were going through at such a young age. Tammy was explaining to me a lot of these students come from low income families and have had some traumatic past experience. I also learned the school nurses around the area do a lot of counseling with the children and provide many other resources for families that qualify. For example she provides tooth brushes and tooth paste so children who do not have the supplies at home. She also gives a meal a week to families who also qualify.
Day 8: Seconded Day with School Nurse
Today I has to do a nutrition presentation to 8th graders. The presentation mostly focused on the effects of sugary drinks and how they can be hidden in foods. The children were very surprised how much hidden sugar was in their food they ate on a daily bases. We also talked about the effects that sugar can have on the body. For example, how sugar can lead to diabetes and heart disease.
I also gave a presentation to 7th graders on hand hygiene. I got to use the glue germ on the children and showed them germs are everywhere and how the can spread really easily. They kids were really surprised on how much germs were on their hands and how their hand washing skills were not effective enough to get off the glow germ. I taught the children proper hand washing technics and to wash their for 20 seconds. We also went over the different times they should be washing their hands.