Stella Krumrey,
Transcript Section 2

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So I was asked to -- to try -- to try out to see -- you know, for a while I thought about it. I said I don't know if I could do this because I just know because as a CHR, I was called on to help with some emergencies --

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: -- with -- with the health aide. But I decided I would try it, and that's when I, you know, said I would.

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: And I -- I have been since.

KAREN: Uh-hum. And you said they asked you to.

STELLA: Yeah. The people --

KAREN: Who is "they"?

STELLA: The Tribal -- Sven -- when Sven Haakensen was our Tribal president, I think, and he came to me and asked me if I would, you know, be willing to become, because they were looking for a health aide and nobody really wanted to.

KAREN: Uh-hum. Yeah, that's one of the interesting things is how people get recruited.

STELLA: Yeah.

KAREN: You know. And why did they choose you?

STELLA: Because I think I was there and I was, you know, available in the village.

KAREN: Uh-hum. And so had you ever -- before you became a CHR, had you ever done anything with health things?

STELLA: No. I never was the health aide. I worked at the school -- for the school district as a teacher's aide.

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: And I -- a house parent.

KAREN: Uh-hum. So once --

STELLA: So I was -- I was always working with, you know, kids.

KAREN: Right. So once you became the health aide, then, what kind of training did you receive?

STELLA: I -- I went to the CHAP program up in Anchorage, they sent me there. I had -- I went to -- I can't think, was it three sessions at the time? I can't remember. Three or four sessions.

But when I -- when I became a health aide, I -- I kind of was trained by the former health aide in Old Harbor --

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: -- before I went up for my training sessions.

KAREN: So explain more about those training sessions in Anchorage.

STELLA: Yeah. You -- I -- when they send us up there, we spend a month at a time.

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: To -- to our sessions.

KAREN: And is it classroom training or --

STELLA: Yes, classroom. And then we -- it was on -- hands-on, where -- you know, where you went to the hospital and followed a doctor or then whoever to --

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: -- to see and how -- how it was done.

KAREN: Uh-hum. And, now, is that required training for all health aides before you start the job?

STELLA: Yes. It's -- not before you start the job, though, it's a -- you know, you have all the -- you can become a health aide and be -- and the health aide that's there is your trainer.

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: They give you so many -- you know, so many weeks, whatever, to decide if you want to become one.

KAREN: And then you say yes and then they send --

STELLA: Uh-hum.

KAREN: -- you to Anchorage?

STELLA: Yes.

KAREN: And so do you go back -- the training in Anchorage is just one -- one month, or it --

STELLA: It's --

KAREN: -- you go multiple times?

STELLA: -- multiple. It's -- it's -- during my time, it -- it was three sessions. I finished mine in two -- actually, 1980, and I was certified in 1982, so it took me two years to finish my sessions.

After the three sessions, you go to your preceptorship for two weeks, and that's in -- I did mine here in Kodiak for two weeks.

KAREN: Okay. And so each of those three sessions, do they have a focus?

STELLA: Yes. They have -- it's -- it's divided into three sections, and I just don't remember what -- you know, the first, I know the first one was, like, basics, with teaching you how to do paperwork, like filling out your PEF's, doing the vital signs --

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: -- and doing examinations on a -- on a -- on a patient.

KAREN: Uh-hum.

STELLA: So it was always three different sessions, you know, with different topics.

KAREN: Uh-hum.