The Last Train to Nowhere

So after spending a week in orientation, 2 of the other interns and I (there are 5 total) flew an hour and a half north to Nome for our rural rotation.  We've been here for a week and I felt like I've learned so much in just a few days!


So we are spending the bulk of our time here working at the hospital, which is run by Norton Sound.  They  are one of the biggest employers in town and it seems like every other person works there.  The hospital itself feels so small compared to what I'm used to.  There are 10 inpatient beds that are not always filled, plus 2 er beds.  There are also 15 beds for elders in the long term care facility attached to the hospital.  The hospital is basically a one stop shop for any healthcare needs.  There are departments for audiology, dental, and even eyecare.


The hospital works this way because of the way rural Alaskan life is structured.  Nome is a hub city, which means that it is home base for outlying villages.  Nome has about 15 villages that it's responsible for.  A hub like Bethel, which is about twice the size of Nome, has 53.  The actual town of Nome is about a mile wide and has a little over 3000 people.  But villages can have anywhere from 10-750 residents.  To a lot of people in the villages, Nome is a big city and Anchorage is too large and can be overwhelming.


Only 1 of the villages is accesible by car.  It's about 70 miles north of Nome and the biggest building by far is the school, which also serves the village across the inlet.  There are about 75 kids total in the school, from 1st-12th grades.  Because you have to fly to all of the other villages, there is even a travel department at the hospital.  They arrange for people from villages to come into town for drs. appointments or various other health services.


One of the highlights of the week is that I've gotten to try native foods!  Fat has traditionally been the majority of Native diets, because carbohydrates are almost non-existant in the winter.  Seal oil is probably the most prevalent fat, and one women even referred to is as "our ketchup"meaning that they put it on everything.  We tried raw and cooked muktuk, which is whale blubber with the skin attached.  It was terrible.  The raw kind was probably one of the worse things I have ever eaten...it was chewy and tasted like bad fish.  The cooked kind was better, but still didn't taste great.  I'm glad I got to try it but don't want to have it again!


We also got to travel out to a village, Teller.  Village life is...interesting.  It's fascinating to see the different ways that people live.  It was incredibly eye opening and defiantly a worthwhile experience.


Today we went berry picking!  Tundra blueberries are amazing, very different than blueberries that we would buy in a store.  They are slightly sour, but still sweet.  You feel good when you eat them, especially knowing that you picked them yourself!


I can't add pictures here because the internet is...interesting, let's say.  But if you want to see pictures of Nome, Teller, and berry picking, you can check out my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktcasa87/