On our last clinical day we took a six-seater flight over to Seldovia. Once we landed we traveled to the SVT clinic established there. Upon arriving we were greeted by a very nice woman who graciously offered to give us a tour of the small town. Her role in the community with a social work degree was setting up different community events and providing numerous different areas of preventative services such as injury prevention. The clinic is staffed with one MA and one PA, NP, or MD three days a week. However, the weather can make flight or water travel quite unpredictable, and so those days are not guaranteed. With this in mind, the community has set up the different preventative services as previously mentioned. This gives the community a unique approach to healthcare by having a heavy focus on primary prevention. This is almost necessary due to the difficulty in having immediate medical access. EMT's are staffed by volunteers and CPR training is held to educate the community in case it is needed. Seldovia also has regular healthy eating cooking classes where different topics of health and wellness are discussed and has a gym open to the community. When we were touring, they were in the process of encouraging community members to have their homes tested for radon.
The emphasis put on community participation in events that surrounded health and wellness was something I had never seen before in a small community and was impressive to see. They often reach out to the children of the community in order to get them involved early on and encourage them to learn about the land they live on. Along with prevetative services, a child care service has also been set up. It is only 20 dollars a month and the set number is filled based on priority. This gives parents who work an opportunity to have an affordable place to take their children during the day.
Something else that was extremely noticeable during our tour was how close this community was and how everyone knew everyone. This could pose a threat to HIPAA if providers are not careful with information. Because Homer and Anchor Point are smaller communities as well, I asked an NP about this subject and discovered that when treating family members it can especially be difficult. Therefore, there is paperwork family members can sign that gives a provider permission to acknowledge care of another member who has given their consent. When I saw this actually occur it was helpful to take note of how the NP navigated the situation. From this I could definitely see where working in a small area could be a challenge and if I ever do work in more of a rural setting I will take care to have steps in place to protect patient confidentiality.
The emphasis put on community participation in events that surrounded health and wellness was something I had never seen before in a small community and was impressive to see. They often reach out to the children of the community in order to get them involved early on and encourage them to learn about the land they live on. Along with prevetative services, a child care service has also been set up. It is only 20 dollars a month and the set number is filled based on priority. This gives parents who work an opportunity to have an affordable place to take their children during the day.
Something else that was extremely noticeable during our tour was how close this community was and how everyone knew everyone. This could pose a threat to HIPAA if providers are not careful with information. Because Homer and Anchor Point are smaller communities as well, I asked an NP about this subject and discovered that when treating family members it can especially be difficult. Therefore, there is paperwork family members can sign that gives a provider permission to acknowledge care of another member who has given their consent. When I saw this actually occur it was helpful to take note of how the NP navigated the situation. From this I could definitely see where working in a small area could be a challenge and if I ever do work in more of a rural setting I will take care to have steps in place to protect patient confidentiality.