KAREN:  So did you receive some training in counseling as part of your health aide training sessions? 

BEVERLY:  Yes, I did.  I had the honor of having that special workshop with Kubla Ross on grief, and, you know, death and grief.  That sure was very insightful, you know.  That was money well spent in the health aide program when they brought in this lady that talked about death and dying and grief. 

Although, you know, I had seen in my lifetime growing up how our people dealt with grief and we were always told not to be too -- to have favorites, you know.  That was shunned, you know, because you have to try to love your children -- they say not too much. 

I guess, you know, there was some merit to that because many years ago, infantile deaths were so, you know, prevalent where children, infant mortality was very high.  And they always kind of told them that they shouldn't love their kids too much, otherwise they had this belief that if you loved somebody too much, if they die or -- they may just take you with you, you know, because you're so full of grief. 

And that's one of the things that I had, you know, understood from -- from my people, you know.  And to love them not too much, you know.  You can love, but not to the extreme to where some people, you know, when they lost a child -- I had one young lady that lost her child and she was so grief stricken that she just lost hope and she died, you know.  Young mother. 

There is -- there's this beliefs that we have that -- that are in our culture. 
And I saw them being lived, you know.  And it's -- I mean, what time I had as a health aide was, you know, it was -- I loved it, you know.  I enjoyed it.
And -- and then I -- I did that for seven and a half years.  And then I decided to go to PA school. 

Well, I had a doctor that -- ER doctor, emergency room doctor.  After Tanana Chiefs moved to Fairbanks in 1980, so they closed down the Tanana Hospital at that time.  So from that time forth, we went to FMH, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, for our urgent or emergency care patients were received there. 

And then they have Chief Andrew Isaac Health Clinic on the other side adjacent to the hospital.  I thought that was a very, very good move, you know, to where if somebody has acute abdomen or urgent caesarean, that it can be readily done. 

And there were more flights to Fairbanks, you know, regular airlines, so I think that worked in our favor to where we got even better care. 

And we have specialists here in this community and they were contracted out, and Tanana Chiefs were always very good in serving their people well.  Even though they never had big oil wealth money like the North Slope, they've done well. 

And what they've also done is they have -- they believe in their people, their own indigenous people, where they have filled in the roles of nurses, doctors, dentists, and a lot of -- it's -- most of it's staffed by Athabascan or Native people. 

KAREN:  That's at Chief Andrew Isaac's?

BEVERLY:  Chief Andrew Isaac, yeah.  And that's -- that's very good, you know.  And I -- I believe that they've done well.