Teaching in Alaska

[Music_Man]

Stay where you are!!!!!! Or maybe Cicely Alaska.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by AllysonV

My husband and I are very interested in moving to the Alaskan bush with our daughter. I’m an experienced special educator/administrator and he’s an experienced school counselor. I understand the villages and experiences vary widely and that a time commitment will be important. We very much want to be away from the major cities and in the bush, but our primary concern and only reservation is access to emergency medicine should we need care for our daughter who has a seizure disorder. It’s not frequent that we’ve needed emergency care, but the few times we have during her 11 years makes us cautious to go beyond a certain travel radius. Can anyone tell me what remote sites are most accessible to emergency medicine and how much travel time we should expect in order to access that level of care?

I'm not sure anyone can answer your question because we don't know what "emergency care" your daughter needs when she does need it. Probably better to contact the communities with schools and available positions and ask them whether they even have a clinic and if they do, what level of emergency care the local clinic can provide. Eliminate the ones that can't provide it. Also realize that clinics can have pretty limited hours and staff. They can go months without providers if they can't attract them due to salary or living conditions.

Medivac transport is extremely expensive because of the logistics involved here. There are specialized insurance programs you can join that help pay for it. However, if the transport can't reach you it won't do any good.

Example: I had a heart attack right before Christmas. I was medivaced from Homer to Anchorage...about 120 miles. Not very far, but traveling by road meant several hours. The Homer airport supports commercial aircraft that fly IFR. Maybe 30 minutes of flight time. All in all a fairly simple proposition compared to many "bush" situations. However, it was snowing, and the aircraft had to fly in from somewhere else to pick me up. It was snowing there too. The flight was delayed several hours. That 30 minute trip cost about $20,000.

Understand this if nothing else:

You may NOT HAVE emergency support services for your daughter either because it doesn't exist at the particular bush community clinic or because the air taxi flight service that would have to transport you to it does not fly 24/7 on a moment's notice. If they aren't flying, YOU aren't going anywhere. That means during bad weather and darkness or no operational aircraft available when you want it. Which is a reality for much of the year. If the community has marine ferry transport it could be hours before you reach help and weather can stop the ferry too. If you pick a community on the limited road system you could possibly drive her to care, but again, distance and weather/road conditions could make that a very long trip.

Example: I lived in Gustavus, AK for decades. It is a pretty well connected nice "bush" community in SE. There is no road in or out...and many bush communities are like this. It is a short 25 minute flight from Juneau and Juneau's hospital. It has a decent clinic and it also has some EMT response because there is a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service ranger staff. They medivac tourists and cruise ship passengers out of Gustavus fairly often in the summer, but if the weather's bad, no one goes anywhere. That 25 minutes means nothing if you can't fly.

Its fine to want to teach up here. If you really want to try it, pick a city/town with a hospital. Once you get to know the realities and the surrounding smaller towns, consider a transfer. Bush living seems attractive, but it also means accepting inconvenience, expense, and more risk. Only you can decide how much is acceptable.

[Northrick]

Kodiak has a hospital and, although off the road system, I wouldn't call it in the bush. Bethel, Nome, and Kotzebue all have hospitals with 24hr emergency care. These towns are larger than the typical bush village but small enough and isolated enough to say they are in the bush. I couldn't tell you how competent the care is at these hospitals, however.

[Haolejohn]

Send me a direct message. You are going to be limited to hubs. I know Nome, Bethel, Kotzebue, Town formally called Barrow, and Dillingham have hospitals. We lived in Dillingham and despite the hospital our son had to be medevaced when his appendix ruptured and it took 4 trips to ER before they realized it was an emergency and actually listened to us. We had to move because my wife needed medical care that couldn’t be provided.

Our medevac took 12 hours. Sometimes weather just happens.
Another thing you need to consider is childcare. It will be substandard to what you want. Trust me on this. Don’t listen to the school district either. Even in a hub childcare is a challenge.

Why do you guys want to be in the bush? I spent 6 years teaching in the bush and I’d love to return. Just can’t with my family.

Get your post count up and contact me. I’ll fill you in.

[deadeye59]

Hit me up. We are in very rural yet still on the road system. We have openings for both SPED and a Counsleor. The Counselor right now and SPED starting in Aug.