Today Shelbey H. and I spent the day learning about the different aspects of the Maniilaq Association including their travel coordination department, public health, outpatient services, infection control, and long term care. We began the day learning about travel coordination from Deb, a nurse who works to coordinate travel for patients who need medical care in other places such as Anchorage. Deb works closely with Medicaid to see who will need to cover travel expenses, Medicaid or Maniilaq Association, and there is a lot that goes into setting up travel for patients in Kotzebue and patients in the 11 villages that Maniilaq provides care for. We then went to public health to learn about public health nursing in Kotzebue from Mary and Billy. These nurses work on preventative care by providing vaccinations, well child visits, vision screenings, and education. They also complete tuberculosis screenings in all school aged children because tuberculosis is very prevalent in Kotzebue and the surrounding area. The public health nurses also work with disease epidemiology and make contact with individuals who have a disease or could have been exposed to a disease, in addition to traveling to the 11 villages served by Maniilaq Association and make referrals to Maniilaq as needed. Shelbey and I then went to outpatient services where we met Mary Ann and had a tour. We learned that about 1/3 of the appointments end up as no-shows each day because patients decide they need to go fishing or hunting to provide food for their family instead of coming in for their appointment at the clinic. The people here seem to focus on their family and providing for their family more than focusing on their individual health needs, which goes with their culture. Part of the outpatient services is a specialty clinic that has the entire year planned out with when different specialists will be in Kotzebue. The specialty clinic sends out invitation letters to let people know when specialists will be in Kotzebue so they can schedule appointments. After lunch, we met with Janet in infection control and learned how she monitors the cleanliness of the ER and inpatient units in the hospital and how she works with the state to monitor infections. We ended our day touring the long term care facility which has 18 beds and provides care for the elders of Kotzebue and the other 11 villages Manillaq serves. They try to focus on what is best for the residents and they follow the wishes of the residents as much as they can. The residents here are able to decorate their room however they want and they can have a refrigerator or freezer in their room for their family to bring in and store traditional foods for the resident. There are also several glass cases with artifacts in them including traditional parkas and bone tools. One thing that I found very thoughtful is that any elder in the community can come to long term care and eat three meals a day free of charge. Throughout the entire community in Kotzebue, there is a strong desire to care for the elders and make sure their needs are met. After clinical, we walked to the art gallery which has beautiful furs, whale bone carvings, items made from caribou antlers, mittens, gloves, hats, mukluks, kuspuks, knives, jewelry, and Eskimo yo-yos. We then went back to the hotel to get ready for our second potluck of the week. This potluck was set up by Paula's friend Ernie and his wife, Mary, and included more traditional foods such as reindeer stew, shiifish, salmon spread, pilot bread, vegetables, oranges, chocolate bunt cake, and tang to drink. We were able to talk with Martin again, as well as some other Native Alaskan community members. After our meal, we were treated to native singing and dancing, and we even got to try dancing. The elders in the community seem to have a strong desire to pass on the traditions and culture of the Inupiat people to the younger generations, so it was nice to see some younger people involved with dancing and playing the drums. After the potluck, one of the nurses that was there told us she had found a picture of Paula from when Paula was here nearly 30 years ago!
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 |