KAREN:  How did you get selected to be a health aide?  You said, you know, you had been -- you got nursing training and then you came home.  How did you then become the health aide? 

PAULA:  Well, the original health aide there, who is not trained, he was untrained person, actually, he was a person who would provide INH PAS, and vitamins to all the people who had TB. 

KAREN:  Oh. 

PAULA:  And so became -- had become somewhat like a health aide.  And there was a school teacher, people used to call all the time when they'd get sick, and she was a teacher in the school. 

So as soon as they find out I had some training, nurses training, LPN training, they just asked me and put me to work.  And I -- I just went to work. 
But when I went to work, and here I just came up from nurse -- LPN training, the health aide, untrained health aide was like a doctor and -- and I didn't know nothing, you know.  It's -- it's that different, you know.  It's -- health aide job is a unique thing.  And so I learned a lot from him who was an untrained person. 

KAREN:  You mentioned abbreviation that the untrained health aide gave, PHP -- what are those? 

PAULA:  It's the medicine for PAS, short for some kind of medicine to prevent -- get you well from TB. 

KAREN:  Oh, okay. 

PAULA:  And INH is another initial for that medicine --

KAREN:  Okay. 

PAULA:  -- that TB, people with TB took.  And all of them took vitamins, multiple vitamins to help them get well. 

KAREN:  Are you comfortable giving the name of who that health -- untrained TB aid was who taught you? 

PAULA:  Yeah.  That's Francis Damian.  And him and I worked together for a long time.  And he -- he had only fourth grade training, and even though he -- he would like to go -- go in for training, he -- his family, he was just married and bringing lots of children and he couldn't go on trainings. 
So as I get trained, he started -- I started helping him.  Like when -- when he's going to report patients, he used to let me go over his report that he's going to give to a doctor. 

And in those days, we had no telephones, no communication, only the BIA radio.  And it's -- it's really funny, compared to the reports we give nowadays.  And we would be listening at maybe 11:30 in the morning, and as soon as the doctor comes on, all 48 villages used to just, you know, go in, you know, just call back to doctor.  And -- and the person that he can hear first, he will call them. 

And that person will report a person, name, age, and what's wrong with that person, all 48 villages are listening in.  And what's wrong with that person.  And it went on and on and on for a long time like that.

Then we got satellite phones finally, so people didn't listen to us any more while we report our -- even, you know, even in the village, people were able to hear that BIA radio.

KAREN:  Oh, really? 

PAULA:  If they go on to a certain place, they can hear us talk, you know, talk to doctor about that person.  You know.  And that was really funny. 
And after satellite phones, we finally got phones. 

KAREN:  When was that?  Do you remember? 

PAULA:  Gee.  Probably in '70s or -- I can't remember when.  I should have thought about that.  It's not long ago that we -- we finally got phones. 
Now, we finally -- and then we finally got fax machines.  Now the health aides always see a person, and they don't have to report, they fax that -- fax all the information to the doctor, and then the doctor call back by phone to give them what to do for that person. 

KAREN:  Oh. 

PAULA:  Very easy. 

And when I first start being a health aide, all I had was black bag with stethoscope, thermometer, blood pressure cuff, something else.  We didn't have very much to start.  And --

KAREN:  So how did you give -- how do you give care to people when you have only those few tools? 

PAULA:  Just give them exam.  And a lot of times, too, my mother helped me in how to care for them and of course, the doctor's side of orders were to give them a shot.  Lots of penicillin shots in those days.  If somebody's got sickness, we just give them seven days of shots, you know.  And --

KAREN:  Did it work? 

PAULA:  Oh, yeah, in a lot of -- a lot of times, it worked.  And...