I finally got to go on a village trip for the first time with YKHC. I flew with Era Alaska with Anne, the Physician’s Assistant I work with at the hospital. We were the only people on board and we were flown by John Ponts from the TV show, Flying Wild Alaska. The landing strip in the village of Marshall was what you would call a dirt road back home. But the landing was actually quite smooth unlike Bethel most of the time. When we arrived there was no one to be seen; it was just us, the pilot and a little shed that said “Welcome to Marshall”. Eventually a truck appeared in the distance to pick us up and we headed about a mile into town.
Marshall sits up on a little hill above the Yukon River. Surrounded by greenery and trees which is a lot different than the lack of green in Bethel. It was so nice to see trees again and it made me miss the Pacific Northwest. The Yukon River was not small in Marshall; It is much wider than the Columbia River in places to give you a comparison, about 1 ½ miles across. The King Salmon are running right now so most of the 400 residents of Marshall were busy at fish camps, cutting the recently caught salmon, and hanging them in smoke houses to dry out so it will keep when they have to go for weeks at a time, before refilling their supplies from the cargo companies during the inhospitable winters in the Alaskan Tundra.
Upon our arrival we had little time to settle in as we had a seriously ill patient come. He was in such rough shape that we had to activate MedEvac to come and take the patient into Bethel quickly. They were here in about forty minutes flat and back out quickly. It was interesting to watch them at work and their knowledge far exceeds an LPN’s knowledge for sure. The rest of the day we saw some patients, but it seemed that for most of the day I was doing clerical work and getting organized. I don’t envy the Med Techs that have to do all this paperwork for patients back in Bethel.
The time spent in Marshall was a very interesting experience. I think it helped me learn where the Eskimo people are coming from and I understand their culture even more. I got to visit them in their homes and walking through town we were met with friendly waves and hellos. It was awe inspiring to think that that Marshall, formerly known as Fortuna Lodge has been there far longer than even the rest of the United States have existed. I also got to know our health aides, who are trained to be the first response to patient care in the villages for the YKHC organization. They treat patients in the village after consulting with doctors over VHF radio back in Bethel through radio medical traffic. I enjoyed my time in Marshall and I look forward to the next time I get to visit one of our villages or regional clinics.
The plane we flew on to get to Marshall. We left Bethel shortly after 9am and got to Marshall about 45 minutes later.
This is ALL luggage and supplies that were being flown to the villagers.
John Ponts from "Flying Wild Alaska".
Bethel's runway...
My last view of Bethel for a few days!
The Tundra
Still the Tundra, but you can see the Kuskokwim river
Finally in Marshall!
The view of the Kuskokwim river from Marshall
This is where Anne and I worked for the week
The homes in Marshall were much like Bethel, in that they were very small
The Russian Orthodox church
This building is the grocery store...
This point of the Kuskokwim is 1.5 miles across
Salmon hanging out to dry
This school was recently built, and will be hiring a couple more teachers soon. They've been able to expand a little bit.
Ready to go home now! It's been a long week!
And I'm home!!!
