Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Floyd,
I don't really think it does make Barrow a great place to live when there is such a shortage of healthcare professionals there. I'm not saying this person was the perfect fit but by the time I left Barrow, I felt the biggest problem at the hospital was the constant turnover and it seemed to me (I only had one child in school there for a couple of years) that the same thing was happening to a lesser degree in the school system. I don't think you could run a bookstore if over 50% of the staff turned over every 13 weeks, let alone a hospital. I don't see the problem being resolved until more locals become health professionals or more permament staff are found to make a long-term committment to Barrow. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles in the path to both of these scenarios. There also is more than lack of white preference working as a factor in the hospital/public relations. There are years of pent up anger directed at a system which has not been working effectively which can sometimes be directed at the ER nurse- and sometimes they do deserve it. I met some wonderful, just incredible people in Barrow. I don't have the answers to all the problems at the hospital. I moved to Barrow for the adventure, the money, and I became a nurse to serve others. I loved Barrow but became worn down, exhausted, and had to move on. I am certainly not the first this happened to and when I left there were only 4 nurses who had been there longer than myself. I don't think this is a staffing pattern to be celebrated. My daughter did well in the school there but there were also significant problems in that institution (the NSBSD) that need to be investigated such as: why is the drop out rate so high?
I wish any nurse making an informed committment to work in Barrow all the best. By far, the good guys outnumber the alternative in Barrow and the adventure is a wild one.
A very impressive article that shows some real understanding of the topic. (Which is to say it is significantly distinct from most of the articles being posted about Barrow.)
First, let me clarify that what I meant about making Barrow a better place was specific to the individual addressed. Part of what makes Barrow really a nice place for most of the people who live here is that it lacks White Preference and people who have problems with non-Whites tend to leave in frustration because they just can't live with it. It helps! No matter what shortage there might be in any given field, we don't need the wrong kind of people filling in. Bush Alaska, and Barrow in particular, has a long history of the harm that causes.
And the Hospital and the School system here both suffer greatly today from effects of that history. The school system, while in many ways is truely great, has a serious problem with a School Board mostly made up of Native people whose perception of schools, and teachers in particular, comes from the experience they had growing up going to BIA schools. They, quite incorrectly, resent every teacher without realizing that in a real world only a few teachers are the typical "BIA teacher" that they use as a model. (I suspect it will take another 10-20 years for that era to pass.)
The Hospital has a similar history. It was operated by PHS for years, and is distinctly different today than other bush regional hospitals in several ways that have not worked well. The NSB of course has a different type of politics than anywhere else, due to the oil. The Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA) owns the hospital. Unlike other areas, ASNA does not run the village clinics or several of the other health care organizations here in Barrow. ASNA is however far more influenced by the politics of the Regional Corporation (ASRC) than probably any of the other similar regional health care providers. Compared to the others that I'm familiar with, the politics here is a really serious impediment. The effect is that ASNA is sort of a puppet for ASRC, but of course ASRC is not in the Health Care business at all...
And none of that is helped a bit by the fact that George Bush stonewalled funding of the IHS, which has government-to-government compacts to fund regional hospitals. IHS has been funded at under 60% of need for this entire decaded. (That affects Native health care all across the US, but in Alaska it is much more dramatic in the spectrum if covers simply because for most of Alaska IHS funded Native health providers are the only health care available to anyone.)
What you describe about the hospital is absolutely true, as far as I know. I'm not closely associated with anyone there, so I'm not up to date on all of the specifics. However I'm roughtly familiar with the funding and operation of health care facilities across the State.
Construction on a new hospital for Barrow will begin this spring. I don't see much chance that there will be any improvement at all.
The school superindentant just quit. There has been a very slow movement towards electing Board members who do not want a superindentant to harass teachers for entertainment purposes; but I don't know if that has progressed far enough to avoid hiring a clone of the last one, or not...
I agree with everything you just said Floyd. The politics of NSB, ASNA, & ASRC are very complicated. I only attended one ASNA board meeting and the board seemed to be compiled of well-meaning citizens mostly from surrounding villages. I believe only one board member was from Barrow. My painful realization at this board meeting was the members aren't educated enough in healthcare delivery to know what to demand of the hospital and I do not mean this as an insult to those members who all seem like very nice people. Other hospital board members often are comprised of lawyers, retired doctors, accountants, etc. and know when and how to pin administrators to the wall and demand accountability of an organization. Unfortunately for Barrow, it doesn't seem the board members know the correct things to demand such as increased appointment slots, certified ER physicians, midwives, primary care by physicians (so that you have the choice to see the same doc on each visit or at very least the choice of which doc you want to see), plans to decrease travelers, increase native hire of health care professionals (bring those native nurses working in Anchorage home), etc. The hospital could do a lot with the money it would save on the travel staff alone (they cost more than permanent staff, get free housing, airfare, and free food).
The high school does have a couple of great programs. I love that my daughter got the opportunity to travel with the cheerleading team and I liked most of her teachers. The hospital also has bright points. It has been able to maintain a L&D program in a very remote area which is dimishing trend nationwide. The hospital also had no fatalities with the worst RSV outbreak in the nation in 2007 when 30+ infants were medivaced out of Barrow and many of those were intubated. The fact that the hospital remains open and functioning is something I guess. I just feel there are some serious improvements that could be made. I did take my concerns to administration but it is hard to actually enact change in Barrow. It would be interesting to see what the next 50 years will bring there.
I agree with everything you just said Floyd. The politics of NSB, ASNA, & ASRC are very complicated. I only attended one ASNA board meeting and the board seemed to be compiled of well-meaning citizens mostly from surrounding villages. I believe only one board member was from Barrow. My painful realization at this board meeting was the members aren't educated enough in healthcare delivery to know what to demand of the hospital and I do not mean this as an insult to those members who all seem like very nice people. Other hospital board members often are comprised of lawyers, retired doctors, accountants, etc. and know when and how to pin administrators to the wall and demand accountability of an organization.
I'm not sure I agree with that or not. The last thing they need are the sort of people you mention! They do need people from villages, not from Barrow. But your point about pinning administrator to the wall and demanding accountablility is correct, though we probably differ greatly on how or when that should be done.
From what I know of other regional health care providers, and about the funding and operational status of various other organizations in Alaska, it appears to me that many of your arguments cover problems common to them all (suggesting that it is inherent in what they do, not who they are).
Quote:
Unfortunately for Barrow, it doesn't seem the board members know the correct things to demand such as increased appointment slots, certified ER physicians, midwives, primary care by physicians (so that you have the choice to see the same doc on each visit or at very least the choice of which doc you want to see), plans to decrease travelers, increase native hire of health care professionals (bring those native nurses working in Anchorage home), etc. The hospital could do a lot with the money it would save on the travel staff alone (they cost more than permanent staff, get free housing, airfare, and free food).
I don't know that any of the bush health care organizations have solved those problems in the way you suggest. First, they don't have discretionary funding. Second, it is the percs, higher pay and short term that attract those people, and lacking those slots there would be empty full time positions.
Barrow is slightly different than the others in several ways that are not political too. It serves a huge area with a smaller population and is farther from the next level of care. For example, that rules out surgical services entirely. ER doctors here do not work with knowledge that the surgeon is prepping, they work with knowledge that a Lear Jet will be ready when needed! :-)
Quote:
The high school does have a couple of great programs. I love that my daughter got the opportunity to travel with the cheerleading team and I liked most of her teachers. The hospital also has bright points. It has been able to maintain a L&D program in a very remote area which is dimishing trend nationwide. The hospital also had no fatalities with the worst RSV outbreak in the nation in 2007 when 30+ infants were medivaced out of Barrow and many of those were intubated. The fact that the hospital remains open and functioning is something I guess. I just feel there are some serious improvements that could be made. I did take my concerns to administration but it is hard to actually enact change in Barrow. It would be interesting to see what the next 50 years will bring there.
Excellent points. Sometimes, from what I hear about the administration, I'm astounded that they manage! (I don't know if you had any problems with the Lab, but apparently they just had something of a meltdown with its administration.)
I'll rant one more time on the biggest problem with health care in bush Alaska though: IHS is funded at less than 60% of need! That fact than any of these facilities are functional at all suggests the people operating them are extremely creative! It's little things like realizing they can, and should, send a bill to Medicare/Medicade for anything they can!
I am a resident in Barrow. If you have any questions or would like a free tour, you can e-mail me, I guess. Or reply to this. I have been reading all posts on this forum, A LOT of funny ones, but I can take you into the culture that you want to experience. Show you things MOST doctors and nurses don't get to see. I'm a young guy, I'm on a whaling crew, I like to hunt, although I don't do it as much as I'd like. My family is getting HUGE. So I spend quite a bit of time working.
One of the things you should get first on your way up is the Alaska Airlines credit card..and mileage plan.
Just a tip. Once you hit Alaska, you are allowed three checked baggage. So I'd recommend you go to Fred Meyer and get two boxes, four including your spouse, and get fresh fruit and veggies..milk..anything you might need right away. They must be under 50lbs though.
But TRY..as soon as humanly possible..to get the Alaska Airlines mileage plan BEFORE you get to Alaska. Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air is probably a place you can get all that.
But it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow. I'll be checking this daily now. This is my first time on this city-data forum site.
Mileage plan. PLEASE get one. Pretty useful.
TTFN.
I wonder what the update is on the thread starter.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
