KAREN: So when you became a health aide, what kind of training did they provide for you?

JESSIE: It was called phase one, two, three, and four. It's just a little more each time, teaching you. It was so long ago I can't even -- They take you out of your home and take you either to Mt .Edgecumbe or Anchorage and teach you. 

When I started we had a little yellow book that we could turn to. Now they have all those -- you were talking about the new CHAM (Community Health Aide Manual) that they have.  Now you can turn to those.  It took me a long time to get used to those things.  You could ask any of my supervisors. It's always on my evaluation to use the CHAM more.  Because when we were working, we didn't have those things to turn to earlier. Once I got used to it, that was a lot of help to use the CHAM.

KAREN: And that CHAM, that's the Community Health Aide Manual, how are you supposed to use it?

JESSIE: It's got in there questions you need to ask the patient, and different things you can tell them.  Patient Ed (education), there's a lot of Patient Ed in it. I haven't seen the new one. I just glanced at it, that's all.

KAREN: But the old ones that you used, how were they set up?

JESSIE: At the front page it asks questions like name, birthdate, those things, and what your complaint is.  After getting those things, they have different places in the CHAM where you can look at what you need to.  Like if it's a cough or a sore throat or a ear problem or UTI (urinary tract infection), abdominal problem. Different places in the CHAM where you can look at after interviewing from the first, then you could go to one of those.

KAREN: That yellow book you had when you first started, what was in that? Do you remember?

JESSIE: I can't even remember. It will tell you basics, I think.  Kind of like what to do in different situations. The CHAM has a lot more detail now.  Because I don't think in that little yellow book it had stuff like what to do in emergencies.  I don't remember childbirth. Stuff like that.