Travel nursing in Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks: apartments, power lines, violent crime)

[akvarmit]

Floyd, if we ever make it up to Barrow, we'll take YOU out for coffee .

For me, moving here has helped me learn more about who I am. As long as I stayed back in my hometown in my "comfort zone", I was stagnant. So we made a change and the experience helps me see who I really am. Some of those lessons are tough ones......I find out I fear some things I didn't think about.......I'm not as confident as I thought I was.......but in some areas I know more than I give myself credit for. And after a while here, I'll know some new things.

"Wherever you go, there YOU are" is a great concept. There are some in search of the geographical cure.

I worked in a crappy hospital elsewhere where the doctors scared me and staff resigned daily. I didn't have to come to AK to see what a bunch of broken people in a room can accomplish . And I'm just as likely wake up and find it's "my day" to be the dork. (...in fact I'm thinking last night was one of those nights )

[GarlicGuy]

My sister in law does that... now in Colorado with HI and AK on her wish list.. loves it

[traveler907]

Floyd, If Barrow is so great, then why do you think most docs and nurses don't want to leave the complex? Could it have anything to do with the alarming violence witnessed in the ER? How much rape, domestic violence, drunks, child abuse should a person see in such a small town. I think what is asinine is not to admit that Barrow has significant social problems. Most people wouldn't treat thier dogs the way children are treated in Barrow and I won't even go into how dogs are treated. I'm glad, Floyd, you've found your utopia in Barrow but I just don't see it.

[warptman]

Originally Posted by traveler907

Floyd, If Barrow is so great, then why do you think most docs and nurses don't want to leave the complex? Could it have anything to do with the alarming violence witnessed in the ER? How much rape, domestic violence, drunks, child abuse should a person see in such a small town. I think what is asinine is not to admit that Barrow has significant social problems. Most people wouldn't treat thier dogs the way children are treated in Barrow and I won't even go into how dogs are treated. I'm glad, Floyd, you've found your utopia in Barrow but I just don't see it.

Motley Crue said it best....."Girl don't go away mad, girl just go away."

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by traveler907

Floyd, If Barrow is so great, then why do you think most docs and nurses don't want to leave the complex? Could it have anything to do with the alarming violence witnessed in the ER? How much rape, domestic violence, drunks, child abuse should a person see in such a small town. I think what is asinine is not to admit that Barrow has significant social problems. Most people wouldn't treat thier dogs the way children are treated in Barrow and I won't even go into how dogs are treated. I'm glad, Floyd, you've found your utopia in Barrow but I just don't see it.

Is this the only ER you ever worked in or what? They are all the same, except in any larger city it is one continuous stream. Here it's just spurts. The ER in Barrow is a picnic compared to any large city. If you are affected that way, I would highly suggest a different line of work.

Open your eyes. Get out of the hospital and find out what actually is in the community. You really won't freeze to death!

Just for everyone else's edification, let me describe something that was in the local paper the other day. The Barrow High School girl's volleyball team is once again competing for the State Championship... both on the court and in the classroom! They have won the Championship (Class 1-2-3A West Division, which has 34 school competing) 3 times in the past 5 years. And while winning on court, they have also had the highest grade average for the past three years and are expected to be tops again this year (with a team average of 3.79!). They could literally field an entire team for the tournament of only students with a 4.0 grade average. (That is a much more accurate representation of the way children are treated in Barrow. It is not unique to Barrow, but can also be found in other bush locations too. But you won't find that sort of thing in urban population centers...)

[twodecadesinthenorth]

Floyd, maybe you should state that the volleyball team is a 95% mixture of white, filipino, tongan, african-american. Same with the football team. The dropout rate for eskimo kids in Barrow high school is 60% or better. How come the Children Services in Barrow is full of un-wanted eskimo children ranging in age from newborn to teenage waiting for adoption. Most towns of 4500 don't have orphanages. More are born every week with many tried to be given up at birth. Akaa and Apaa are trying to maintain the cultural heritage, but Generation X and Y are too interested in drinking, substance abuse and unprotected sex. STD's are rampant in the 15 and up age range. The bulk of employment in Barrow is native preference hiring. The turnover rate is enormous. After they haven't shown up to work for days on end. I have been a patient at the hospital, let's only hope if it is a real emergency Life Flight is running. By the way, the hospital has been open for 48 years where are the local trained Native Docs and nurses there! Floyd maybe you need to go out and have coffee to wake up and see what's going on around you.

[traveler907]

Goodbye Barrow and hat's off to all of you who continue to work hard serving others in such a harsh environment. I think that you either know about the bush or you don't before you come here and I didn't so I highly recommend researching all you can about Barrow before you get here if you're thinking of taking an assingment here. I've heard Barrow's problems are the same as every other bush Alaska site so that may be true. I wish I would have been warned about the security issues (there's no security at all at the hospital) and that almost all the staff were travelers. I also didn't know that I would be working with docs who had never worked in the ER before. I also didn't know that Barrow would be like a ghetto- I thought it would be a remote small town. So good luck to all on Alaskan Adventurers!! If you've lived in Barrow for years- then keep putting the prozac in your cofee.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by twodecadesinthenorth

Floyd, maybe you should state that the volleyball team is a 95% mixture of white, filipino, tongan, african-american.

You failed to mention the Korean and Inupiat students on the team, which BTW account for more than 5%, so you are making up your numbers. What's your point though, isn't it a really neat mix of people!

Same with the football team.

Can you imagine anything as dumb as a football team in Barrow? Particularly when the award winning band program cannot be fully funded, nor can the reading program?

The dropout rate for eskimo kids in Barrow high school is 60% or better.

Which should tell you that the school system here is sick to the core, eh? But what can you expect when they want a football team instead of educated children? BTW, the dropout rates for Native students are that high in Anchorage and Fairbanks schools too. There have been multiple studies done over the past several decades, but nobody wants to face the simple fact that we are not even attempting to educate a large segment of our students. It is systemic racism. And your comments are no different.

How come the Children Services in Barrow is full of un-wanted eskimo children ranging in age from newborn to teenage waiting for adoption. Most towns of 4500 don't have orphanages. More are born every week with many tried to be given up at birth.

So you are saying that the community of Barrow cares more about it's youth than do most towns of 4500.

I agree, though I would point out that the same is true of virtually everywhere in Bush Alaska, and it is not just limited to the children. I recall about 5 years ago the State did not want the City of Bethel to build a home for Seniors, and wanted to house them in Anchorage because it would cost less. At a public hearing in Bethel a Yup'ik lady from the Yukion Kuskokwim Health Corporation testified that it would be the same as killing the elders, to ship them away from home and family.

Akaa and Apaa are trying to maintain the cultural heritage, but Generation X and Y are too interested in drinking, substance abuse and unprotected sex. STD's are rampant in the 15 and up age range.

So our young people are the same as youth everywhere, eh? Amazing...

The bulk of employment in Barrow is native preference hiring. The turnover rate is enormous. After they haven't shown up to work for days on end.

I know a lot of people who've had the same job for 10 to 30 years here. It sounds to me like you have a real streak of racism to hinder your ability to think straight.

I have been a patient at the hospital, let's only hope if it is a real emergency Life Flight is running. By the way, the hospital has been open for 48 years where are the local trained Native Docs and nurses there!

A small hospital staffed by non-residents would never be likely encourage local students to study medicine, here or anywhere else. The target for most of the brighter students here is not a Medical Degree, but rather a Law Degree, and the number of local students who go on to get a JD is astounding. Think about why that would be...

Floyd maybe you need to go out and have coffee to wake up and see what's going on around you.

Or more likely what I should do is kick a few racist butts every day...

[warptman]

Originally Posted by traveler907

Goodbye Barrow and hat's off to all of you who continue to work hard serving others in such a harsh environment. I think that you either know about the bush or you don't before you come here and I didn't so I highly recommend researching all you can about Barrow before you get here if you're thinking of taking an assingment here. I've heard Barrow's problems are the same as every other bush Alaska site so that may be true. I wish I would have been warned about the security issues (there's no security at all at the hospital) and that almost all the staff were travelers. I also didn't know that I would be working with docs who had never worked in the ER before. I also didn't know that Barrow would be like a ghetto- I thought it would be a remote small town. So good luck to all on Alaskan Adventurers!! If you've lived in Barrow for years- then keep putting the prozac in your cofee.

And don't come back! Someone must not have had any friends up in Barrow. Such negativity. Go back to the city, the waaaaaambulance is on it's way.

[Grannysroost]

Those docs there may not have been ER docs before, but they need to and will adjust, as they have made the choice, probably better than some others that think they know better, but choose to complain...

You said the magic words,...did not research...and you are educated and experienced???....

I think what you are assuming and portraying is blasphemous to the people up there...I am sure there is more than this constant 24-hour influx of drunks, violence and abuse...or all would be gone, Barrow is not that big... I am sure you have seen heartache that any of us would feel, but to generalize and to portray this hospital as that is all that exists, you have not been fair to your profession, the people that will stay for a while, or the new coming in...There are no sick people, sick kids with an ear infection or strep throat, no heart attacks, no strokes, no elderly falling and breaking bones, no accidents....Barrow must be special in that regard then..

The key is research as Barrow probably is a culture shock, weather shock,etc., land within a land...for most....There is not much security in any hospital up here and if you are looking for that, once again, you are in the wrong place...You don't need to bring the whole town (village) down, just admit you were wrong and go on...