Nolita Madros, Transcript Section 7

Community Health Aide Program Project Jukebox

Nolita Madros,
Transcript Section 7

Back to Interview Outline

Listen to Audio

Next Section

MARLA: And who -- and who works here now?

NOLITA: Eric Yardey works here, he's the maintenance custodian. Alice Ahgook is the CHR. And Harry is the senior van driver. Harry Hugo. And myself.

MARLA: Okay. So there's just --

NOLITA: Four of us.

MARLA: Wow. So who -- when -- when you take off, who takes over for you?

NOLITA: Oh, I was just off recently like last week, and they flew in an itinerant, Ron Murphy, from Ruby.

MARLA: Oh, okay. So that's part of the itinerant's job, as well, is to go where --

NOLITA: When they need.

MARLA: When the health aide needs to take some time off?

NOLITA: Take a break. Yeah.

MARLA: How often do you get a chance to take a break?

NOLITA: I think I was on call two months straight, 24/7.

MARLA: Wow. Wow.

NOLITA: So.

MARLA: Don't get much sleep then.

NOLITA: Well, no. No. Well, sometimes I get good rest, but other nights, you know, it depends on colds or accidents and stuff like that. I don't get as much rest.

MARLA: Right. And what -- what -- let's see. Sorry. What -- like what are some -- do you ever have to give, to deliver babies?

NOLITA: Yeah. I think I've delivered like 8 or 9 babies in my whole career.

MARLA: Do you remember is there one that stands out in your mind?

NOLITA: No, not really. They were -- well, no, not really. They were all pretty -- pretty much run of the mill, I guess.

MARLA: So do most people deliver in the village or --

NOLITA: No. We try to get them out by 38 weeks.

MARLA: Okay.

NOLITA: Sooner if they are having problems.

MARLA: Okay.

NOLITA: So. Up to a month sooner.

MARLA: And is that something that you like about the job, or --

NOLITA: Delivering babies?

MARLA: Yeah.

NOLITA: No, not particularly. I'd rather have somebody else that -- like an obstetrician deliver the babies. It's not really -- I'll do it if I have to. Don't get me wrong. But it's not the job of choice in this career.

MARLA: Yeah.

NOLITA: I'd rather suture.

MARLA: What's your favorite part of being a health aide?

NOLITA: Suturing.

MARLA: Yeah.

NOLITA: I like suturing and I like lab.

MARLA: You like suturing because you like to sew?

NOLITA: No. Because, well, I think it's just a little bit more -- well, depending on the laceration or what I'm suturing, you know, I guess maybe because I do like to sew.

MARLA: Yeah.

NOLITA: And I like to do that because it's interesting to -- to see what tubes you have to draw for what tests the doctor wants you to draw for.

MARLA: Can you explain what you have to do in labs? I don't know anything about it.

NOLITA: In labs. There's -- well, there's a lot of different kind of labs. There's drawing blood labs, there's finger sticks for like glucose, urine labs, sending out urine cultures. There's a lot of different kind of labs.

MARLA: And is that some -- is that pretty common --

NOLITA: Yeah.

MARLA: -- that a health aide would do labs?

NOLITA: Yeah.

MARLA: And do you know about your mom's time?

NOLITA: Yeah, they did labs, as well.

MARLA: They did labs, as well. Okay.

NOLITA: We have a big job.

And back when she was a health aide, it was a little bit -- I think it was a little bit tougher job then only because, well, they didn't have the technology that we have now.

They had to do the radio phone thing and there was sometimes maybe in villages they got a plane once a week, so if there was something really going on bad, they had to deal with it then and there. You know.

Whereas if there's something going on critical right now, our ambulance will be here perceptible the doctor's request, like within two hours.

MARLA: And where do they come from?

NOLITA: Fairbanks.

MARLA: And who do you guys use specifically?

NOLITA: We use specifically Warbelow's Air Ambulance. I believe they carry the contract for TCC.

MARLA: Okay.

NOLITA: So. But like in -- when we delivered a baby, when was it, in May, we delivered a baby in May, she was a preemie baby, so we had to -- we called Warbelow's initially, but then Warbelow's called Guardian on top of that because Guardian has the incubator for the baby.

MARLA: So it depends really on what the medical situation is?

NOLITA: Yeah. Yeah.

MARLA: Got you. And you said that TCC has the contract for Warbelow's, but you guys are still under North Slope Borough?

NOLITA: Yes.

MARLA: How does that work?

NOLITA: Well, actually, I don't really kind of know how.

We can't get our services out of Barrow because there's not a direct flight off of Barrow daily. So the closest major hospital area is Fairbanks, and so we get most of our coverage with the doctors, the dental, the counseling, with Chief Andrew Isaac or TCC.

MARLA: Oh. That's pretty interesting.

NOLITA: I know.

MARLA: It's sort of a strange overlap.

NOLITA: Yeah, it --

MARLA: Not too many other villages like that, I imagine.

NOLITA: No. Point Hope was that way, but they pretty much turned over the health care system over to Maniilaq in Kotzebue because they were getting all their services from Kotzebue, which is Maniilaq.

MARLA: Yeah. Because it's so close.

NOLITA: Yeah.

MARLA: Going all the way to Barrow would be pretty -- and I don't think there's any direct flight from Point Hope to Barrow, either.

NOLITA: There is, but I think it's more cost effective to go to -- from Point Hope to go to Kotzebue.

MARLA: Right. And also probably faster.

NOLITA: Yeah.