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Barbara Johnson talks with Karen Brewster on May 27, 2006 at the Blue Heron Inn in Yakutat, Alaska about...
1) Her personal background.
birthplace\ Petersburg, Alaska\ grandmother\ Yakutat, Alaska\ mother -- death\ grandmother -- raised by\ birthdate\ education\ Skagway, Alaska\ Hyacinth Mission\ Mt. Edgecumbe High School\ Sitka\ school -- Yakutat\ grandmother -- name\ John, Maggie\ grandmother -- old age\ grandmother -- caring for\ grandmother -- midwife\ healing -- traditional\ people -- caring for\ babies -- delivery\ Juneau\ Hood Bay Cannery\ husband -- meeting\ Angoon\ cannery -- location\ cannery -- seasonal living\ children -- raising|
2) Her interest in health work, the inspiration she received from her grandmother who was a mid-wife, and the training she received when becoming a health aide.
health aide -- becoming\ nursing -- interest in\ school -- lack of\ grandmother -- inspiration from\ Angoon \ Jack, Elizabeth\ midwife -- helping\ health aide program -- establishment\ health aide -- training\ training -- basic\ training -- phases\ health aide -- certification\ preceptorship\ health practitioner|
3) How long she worked as a health aide, the change from seeing patients in her home to when there was a clinic in the village, and training she received.
health aide -- length of employment\ clinic -- lack of\ home -- use of\ bag -- medicine\ clinic hours -- lack of\ public health nurse\ clinic -- use of\ school -- basement\ clinic -- school\ health aides -- number of\ Jim, Jessie\ co-worker\ training -- EMT\ health aide -- guidelines\ EMT 1 certification\ training -- location\ Sitka\ Anchorage\ building -- CHAP program\ building -- location\ building -- trailer\ patients -- seeing\ doctor -- review|
4) Moving back to Yakutat and getting the job as their health aide, working with doctors, the common types of cases she dealt with.
Yakutat -- moving back to\ job -- health aide\ job -- hiring\ hiring -- speed of\ homecoming -- why\ relatives\ homesick\ health care -- villages\ villages -- differences\ Angoon\ physician assistant -- lack of\ Jim, Jessie\ doctor -- visits\ visits -- number of\ public health nurse -- visits\ immunization\ well baby clinic\ doctor -- work with\ patient -- referral\ doctor -- consultation with\ doctor -- calling\ patient -- evacuation\ accidents\ incident -- critical\ heart attack\ patient care -- regular\ illness -- otitis\ illness -- pneumonia\ babies -- care of\ babies -- immunization\ babies -- delivery\ baby delivery -- first\ midwife -- helping\ delivery -- premature\ Angoon\ airplane -- lack of\ mother -- foster\ Jack, Elizabeth\ baby -- size of|
5) The history of the different clinic buildings in Yakutat, working with a physician assistant, and why she liked being a health aide.
clinic\ Yakutat\ elders -- care of\ housing -- elder\ clinic -- old\ clinic -- new\ clinic -- construction\ Native corporation -- Yakutat Kwan\ clinic -- moving to\ clinic -- space\ space -- differences\ space -- lack of\ retirement\ clinic -- description of\ clinic -- exam rooms\ clinic -- emergency room\ physician assistant (PA)\ PA -- working with\ doctor -- working with\ PA -- adjusting to\ PA -- learning from\ working -- enjoyment\ retirement -- reason for\ health -- personal\ hip\ job -- health aide\ job -- love of|
6) The satisfaction she got from health aide work, and the dental, mental health, nutrition and health education tasks that health aides did.
job -- health aide\ job -- enjoyment\ people -- helping\ helping -- satisfaction from\ helping-- illness\ helping -- mental\ help -- ourselves\ health aide -- work\ work -- dental health\ teeth -- treatment\ emergencies\ teeth -- fillings\ dental health aides -- need for\ patients -- helping\ dentist -- visit\ visits -- number of\ work -- amount of\ people -- number of\ children -- treatment\ travel -- pay for\ Denali Kid Care\ work -- mental health\ depression\ patient -- referral\ Mt. Edgecumbe -- mental health program\ work -- physical therapy\ health education\ school\ nutrition -- teaching\ food -- Native\ Native food -- benefit of\ junk food -- dangers of\ earache -- symptoms\ ear ache -- causes\ tuberculosis -- disappearance of\ immunization -- keeping up on\ AIDS -- education\ clinic -- schedule\ clinic -- demands of|
7) The heavy workload of the health aide job and handling the stress of its demands, doctors she worked with, and being an itinerant health aide.
health aides -- work\ work -- amount of\ diabetes program\ diabetes -- patient management\ diabetes -- testing\ patient -- referral\ Mt. Edgecumbe -- diabetes specialist\ patient -- travel\ travel -- arranger\ health aides -- hiring\ people -- number of\ job -- busy\ stress -- amount of\ stress -- dealing with\ friend -- support\ physician assistant\ Sensemeier(?), Eva\ minister\ Westcott, Linda\ stress -- talking about\ Pichelco(?), Dr.\ Sitka\ Yakutat -- doctor\ doctor -- referral\ doctor -- calling\ doctor -- advice from\ patient -- treatment of\ village -- specific doctor\ Angoon\ Owens, Dr. ?\ Kake\ Bob, Dr. ?\ travel -- villages\ health aide -- relief\ health aide -- itinerant\ work -- solo\ Hoonah\ Klawock\ Jim, Jessie -- solo\ health aide -- substitute|
8) A campaign advocating for more funding to hire more health aides, increase their salaries, and provide more training to relieve the workload and stress on health aides.
Caldera, Deborah\ campaign -- “Health Aide in Crisis”\ funding -- lack of\ funding -- fighting for\ letters -- writing\ health aide -- campaign for\ health aide -- schedule\ schedule -- on-call\ funding -- increase\ health aide program -- expansion\ health aides -- number of\ program -- improvements to\ villages -- growth\ health aides -- lack of\ health aide -- salary\ salary -- increase|
9) The recruitment and retention of current health aides, differences between generations of health aides, and the importance of community support for health aides.
health aide -- recruitment\ job -- stressful\ health aides -- finding\ health aides -- quitting\ health aides -- retention\ health aides -- older\ health aides -- long term\ health aides -- younger\ stress -- handling\ values -- raised with\ respect\ lifestyle -- improving\ life -- early days\ lifestyle -- hard\ life -- modern\ lifestyle -- easy\ laundry -- differences\ water -- packing\ clothes -- washing\ tub -- use of\ water -- heating\ strength\ church -- importance of\ communities -- differences\ community -- support from\ support -- importance of\ Yakutat -- moving to\ house -- lack of\ house -- rental\ cousin\ Yakutat Lodge -- stayed at\ people -- help from\ Angoon -- move back to\ house -- availability\ Alaska Native Sisterhood -- support from\ Alaska Native Brotherhood -- support from\ Tlingit Haida Housing Authority\ letter writing -- support\ health aide -- needed as\ house -- current\ grandchildren -- raising|
10) The support she received from people in Angoon, and why she left there to move back to Yakutat.
Angoon\ community -- support\ village -- politics\ communities -- differences\ community -- outsider\ community -- insider\ people -- caring\ village -- acceptance\ Christmas\ Christmas program\ family -- participation\ audience -- standing ovation\ feeling -- good\ Yakutat -- coming to\ Yakutat -- home|
11) Dealing with emotional hardship, differences between being an outsider health aide versus doing it in your home community, caring for Native and non-Native patients, and concerns about the distance from Yakutat to Sitka for patients to get to a hospital and see a doctor.
health aide -- work\ emotions -- dealing with\ patients -- family\ patients -- friends\ patients -- non-relatives\ villages -- differences\ Angoon\ Yakutat\ job -- easier\ lifestyle -- careful\ family -- being around\ medical care -- delivery\ health aide -- outsider\ community -- coming to\ village -- changes\ patients -- care of\ patients -- Native\ patients -- non- Native\ travel -- ease of\ travel -- airplane\ travel -- ferry\ Mt. Edgecumbe hospital\ travel -- length of\ Juneau -- layover\ patient -- waiting\ patient -- hardship|
12) Evacuation of critical patients and treating Native and non-Native patients.
patient -- critical\ patient -- medevac\ medevac -- location\ Anchorage\ airplane -- location\ Sitka\ Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) -- airplane\ instructors -- EMT\ airplane -- Coast Guard\ patients -- non-Natives\ non-Native -- treatment\ airplane -- hiring\ SEARHC-- patient coverage\ Natives -- health program\ Indian Health Service\ Medicaid\ health insurance\ medevac -- procedure\ doctor -- help from\ Juneau\ Anchorage\ Sitka\ treatment location -- decision\ doctor -- decision|
13) Talking with doctors on the radio in her early days as health aide in Angoon, trying to maintain patient confidentiality, and being both a health aide and a cannery worker at the same time.
health aide -- early\ Angoon\ doctor -- communicating with\ radio\ radio --VHF\ radio location\ store\ cases -- describing\ confidentiality\ radio -- public\ confidentiality -- lack of\ cases -- knowledge of\ health aides -- carefulness\ patient -- description\ cannery -- work\ work -- health aide\ jobs -- number of\ cannery -- radio\ radio -- use of\ health aide -- salary\ Angoon -- moving to\ health aide -- volunteer\ people -- helping\ accident\ doctor -- calling\ health aide -- payment|
14) The introduction of telephones in Angoon, and balancing the health aide job with caring for her own family.
telephone -- introduction of\ telephone -- post-mistress\ telephone -- use of\ telephones -- lack of\ children -- number of\ grand-children -- number of\ great-grandchildren -- number of\ children -- death\ family -- balance\ job -- balance\ husband -- help from\ children -- caring for\ work -- clinic\ family -- raising\ schedule -- heavy\ schedule -- management of\ income -- sole\ job -- husband\ babysitter\ wages -- amount of\ husband -- Johnson, Joe, Sr.\ husband -- divorce|
15) Going away to Anchorage for extended training sessions, and visiting patients and observing doctors as part of the training.
training -- Anchorage\ childcare -- husband\ childcare -- mother-in-law\ childcare -- foster mother\ training -- length of\ loneliness\ city -- fear of\ city -- size\ health aides -- togetherness\ building -- climbing stairs\ elevator -- lack of\ speed -- increase\ health -- being in shape\ training -- benefit\ clinic -- stayed in\ work -- night\ patient care -- observation\ patients -- talk with doctors -- help from|
16) Things she was taught in health aide training, and how important it is to keep your training and certification updated.
training -- subjects\ training -- learning\ vital signs\ first aid\ body -- learning about\ systems\ pharmacy\ medications -- learning about\ medication -- use of\ medication -- limits on\ medication -- narcotics\ medication -- emergency\ medicine -- antibiotics\ pharmacy -- request from\ training -- physical therapy\ training -- nutrition\ training -- mental health\ training -- baby delivery\ training -- pre-natal care\ training -- length of\ knowledge -- amount of\ training -- updates\ certification -- maintenance\ certification -- timeframe\ tests -- taking\ education -- status of\ training -- specialized\ diabetes\ EMS symposium\ childcare\ child abuse\ public health nurse\ medicines -- changes in\ immunization|
17) The adequacy of the training she received and how it has changed, doctors walking her through cases over the telephone, and how she was selected to be a health aide.
training -- amount of\ training -- adequacy\ cases -- type of\ doctor -- talking to\ treatment -- talked through\ knowledge -- lack of\ shot -- Cortesone\ shot -- giving\ teaching -- lack of\ health aide -- early\ Angoon\ training -- schedule\ health aide -- becoming\ volunteer\ application\ doctor -- Mt. Edgecumbe\ doctor -- assessment from\ assessment -- nervous\ children -- number of\ job -- acceptance\ training -- Sitka\ training -- basic\ training -- Anchorage\ training -- changes\ training -- improvement\ training -- quality|
18) Dealing with difficult cases like suicide and the emotional impact of them.
cases -- scared\ suicide\ drug overdose\ suicide -- prevention\ people -- talking to\ prayer\ people -- helping\ southeastern Alaska -- lower\ southeastern Alaska -- upper\ sleep -- lack of\ gunshot -- self-inflicted\ victim\ incident -- dealing with\ family\ emotions -- personal\ emotions -- dealing with\ health aides -- talking to\ health aides -- support from\ hardship -- sharing\ counseling\ stress -- dealing with\ stress -- debriefing\ incident -- bad\ suicide\ health aide -- dealing with\ Juneau\ debriefing team\ incident -- talk about\ health aide -- alone\ family -- problems\ health aide -- hardship\ health aide -- quit|
19) Health aide retention, and how important it is for health aides to have support, get a break from the job, and to have people they can talk with.
health aide -- job\ health aides -- retention\ health aides -- older\ health aides -- younger\ support -- family\ support -- community\ health aides -- back-up\ health aides -- privacy\ counselor\ job -- burn-out\ health aides -- schedule\ schedule -- vacation\ time -- private\ vacation -- lack of\ Health Aide Forum\ health aides -- talking\ community -- problems\ home life -- trouble|
20) The use of traditional medicines.
grandmother -- midwife\ medicine -- traditional\ grandmother -- learning from\ babies -- delivery\ baby -- position\ baby -- turning\ skills -- explaining\ grandmother -- observation of\ new mothers -- care of\ care -- home\ grandmother -- age\ grandmother -- health\ health -- good\ arthritis\ arthritis -- inheritance\ medicine -- plants\ plants -- use of\ baby -- delivery\ bleeding\ pine -- use of\ pine -- boiling\ pine juice -- drinking\ devil's club -- juice\ devil's club juice -- use of\ cancer -- treatment\ devil's club -- preparation of\ spring\ devil's club -- drying\ thorns -- removal\ skin -- outer\ skin -- peeling\ peelings -- dry\ peelings -- boiling\ stem -- use of\ peelings -- baking\ peelings -- grind\ powder\ traditional medicine -- use of\ infection\ patient -- diabetes\ penicillin -- allergy\ Gustavus\ devil's club -- learning to use\ devil's club -- powder\ devil's club -- use of\ ointment -- Bacitracin\ ointment -- mix with\ wound -- healing\ Sitka\ ointment -- devil club\ soap\ SEARHC -- logo\ devil's club -- purpose|
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