We left the house in Anchorage at 4:30 am, and Cindy drove us to the Anchorage airport to fly to Kotzebue. I had the Crock Pot as one of my carry on items, and it had our cold food in it, including chicken and cheese. It got pulled to have a TSA agent check it, and the only comment the agent made was, "oh, chicken" as they looked at what was in the Crock Pot. The flight to Kotzebue was about 2/3 full, and we all had window seats and it was neat to see the lights of Kotzebue appear out of the darkness below the plane. Once we landed, we had to wait to get our luggage because the airport is being remodeled and there wasn't room for the out going passengers, the incoming passengers, and our luggage. We were told it would be about an hour before luggage could be picked up and Paula's friend, Ernie, surprised us at the airport, so he gave the students, Shelbey H., Jordyn, Shelby S., and myself a ride to the Nullagvik Hotel, then went back to help Paula with our luggage. Once Paula and Ernie returned to the hotel with our luggage, minus one missing box of food, we quickly brought everything up to the hotel room and walked over the the hospital to begin our first day. It was a cold walk, even with our warm winter coats, hats, mittens, and boots on! Now I know why Paula suggested that we wear snow pants when we walk to clinical in the mornings! We had to complete HR paperwork, get name tags, complete a fit test for the type of masks that are worn when providing care to patients who have tuberculosis, and have a tour of the Maniilaq Association. As we walked from the hospital building to the HR building, we stopped in at the fire department to let them know that we had a surprise for them from Melissa (from the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage) that we would bring by later. After we completed the tour of the Maniilaq Association, we walked back to our hotel to prepare for the potluck that the hospital had organized for us. When we walked from the hotel to the hospital potluck, we dropped of the doughnuts and coffee sent by Melissa at the fire department. During the potluck we ate a combination of native foods and other foods which included muktuk, salmon berries, blueberries from the tundra near Kotzebue, moose chili, homemade buns, salad, pickles, oranges, cookies, and cake. If you haven't heard of muktuk before, it is whale blubber and it has a fishy flavor and is quite chewy. The muktuk that we ate was coated in seal oil and we were told that it is best with a little salt sprinkled on it, so we all at our muktuk with a little salt on it. The potluck was a great way to meet some of the nurses and other hospital staff that we will be working with during the week. After the potluck, we decided to walk around town a little bit and we ended up walking along the Kotzebue sound where we met Martin. Martin was also walking and he stopped to talk to us, as he could tell we were from out of town, and told us many stories along with some information about Kotzebue and it's residents. We ended our first day by having a clinical conference with the group in Anchorage, sharing about our day's experiences.
AuthorHi! My name is Megan Hamernik and I am a senior nursing student at The College of St. Scholastica. While on this wonderful trip to Alaska, I was able to spend time in Anchorage, Talkeetna, Seward, Kotzebue, and Alyeska. Please continue reading to learn about my amazing capstone experience in Alaska! ArchivesCategories |