Martina Lauterbach, Transcript Section 4

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KAREN: I was wondering, you know, how being from a small community and being a health aide, if that's hard, you know everybody.

MARTINA: It was hard at times because, you know, you're familiar, you know, you were dealing with your family members.

KAREN: Right.

MARTINA: Relatives. And I think -- you know, they were pretty good to me. You know, I can't say anything, you know, that -- I guess, you know, just took care of them.

And, you know, that was my thing, you know, if I took care of them and, you know, there were -- that's all I can do. I can't -- I mean, you know, I was there all the time. You know, if there was some type of illness and they called on me, I had to be there. I mean, you know, it was -- and that's all I did.

KAREN: I'm somebody who don't think I could be a medical practitioner. I don't have the -- I think I'd pass out if I saw certain things, so I'm always amazed about how people handle those situations and how they get through them.

MARTINA: Uh-hum (affirmative).

KAREN: And how that's possible.

MARTINA: Yeah, I guess, you know, you have to have, you know -- you have to be compassionate. And, you know, empathetic. And I was -- I think I was that, you know -- you know, from the time I got into taking -- you know, doing medical stuff.

KAREN: Now, you said you had wanted to go to nursing school, so why did you want to go into medical things, do you know?

MARTINA: I'm not sure. I mean, just -- it was kind of like I honestly don't know because I was in high school when I decided that I wanted to go into, you know, nursing, or, you know, some. And it stuck with me. I mean, it did.

And I guess me going into nursing after being a health aide, you know, that had been my dream, so you know, I pursued it, you know, after three years of being a health aide.

And I think I probably -- it could have been that, you know, I was going through a burnout, you know, type when I, you know, left the village to go into the nursing program.

Because I was in a lot of things like, you know, things that were happening, and I was -- I guess, you know, I kind of felt like I'm the only person taking care of a village and, you know, I had another person, but, you know, just I was starting to feel overwhelmed, I guess.

KAREN: And you were how old when you -- you said you were young when you were a health aide, so you were how old?

MARTINA: Well, I started -- I was 20 when I started. And, I mean, I wasn't that young, but I was still --

KAREN: Well, that's young.

MARTINA: Yeah. From being a village person, I think, you know, that was young.

KAREN: Yeah. Do you feel that the training that you got as a health aide prepared you for the things that you had to deal with?

MARTINA: Yes. Uh-hum. You know, we had some, I guess, for emergencies or, you know, what not to do type of things and, you know, at the end, I think it was like I was trained in one of the trainings that, you know, you should try and get the people to come to the clinic rather than you always going to their, you know, homes and stuff, but that was hard.

I mean, you know, if we had a child that had real, you know, high fever or something, you know, just didn't feel that they should be going outside and in the cold, especially. And older people. You know, I could go to them.

And I think I kind of spoiled the people in the village that way. But you know, it was my choice. And, you know, I did -- the ones that weren't too ill or, you know, I felt that weren't too ill and stuff, then I encouraged them to, you know, come to the clinic and let them know this is the hours that I have the clinic open. And you need to be there at a certain time because, you know, radio traffic was at a certain time, so you know, I could get them reported to the doctor in Bethel.

KAREN: And if they came to the clinic, were you able to have some privacy with the patients?

MARTINA: Yeah. We had --

KAREN: I know sometimes --

MARTINA: Yeah, we had -- you know, the office, or, you know, the little clinic that I had, it was even smaller than this room here.

KAREN: Yeah.

MARTINA: It had a door, so you know, you could -- and there was no windows from the hallway. You know. So that was good.

KAREN: Yeah. Because I know from talking to some other people in some of the communities, you know, it was just a curtain in the back of the school.

MARTINA: Oh. Yeah. No, I was -- you know, when I started, I had, you know, a little office, and had, you know, cabinets where I could keep their medicine. It had a sink. So this was pretty -- I think it wasn't like, you know, some of the, you know, other villages that had -- didn't have the stuff.

KAREN: Right. When did Emmonak get a clinic on all on its own, so that it wasn't part of the school, do you remember?

MARTINA: I was already gone when -- I mean, I had already graduated from nursing school and left and I can't remember exactly, might have been in the '70s sometime. Late '70s, early '80s.

KAREN: Okay.

MARTINA: I can't remember exactly.

KAREN: Yeah. So quite awhile after you had --

MARTINA: Yeah. And they got the Regional Clinic just a couple years ago. So that's a brand new clinic that they have right now.

KAREN: Oh, good.

MARTINA: Yeah. It's the Axel and Pearlie Johnson Clinic they called.

KAREN: Nice.

MARTINA: They dedicated it to them. So.