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Trudy Wolfe talks with Karen Brewster on May 30, 2006 in her room at Wildflower Court Nursing Home in Juneau, Alaska about…
1) Her personal background.
birthplace\ birthdate\ Sitka\ growing-up\ marriage\ Juneau\ Hoonah -- moving to\ husband -- Wolfe, Bill\ mother -- Paul, Mary\ father -- Paul, Frank\ siblings -- number of\ education\ school -- Sheldon Jackson\ school -- graduation|
2) When and how she became a health aide.
health aide -- becoming\ son -- birth of\ Health Council -- Hoonah\ Mt. Edgecumbe\ Sitka\ health aide -- selection of\ job -- rejection of\ job -- chosen for\ job -- why chosen\ skills -- people\ job -- first\ husband -- job\ job -- power plant\ job -- store\ Health Council -- description\ Peterson, Caroline\ village council|
3) An old cannery that is a tourist site in Hoonah, and when she moved to the community.
Hoonah -- population\ Native corporation -- Hoonah Totem\ cannery -- fixing-up\ tourism\ employment\ cannery -- closure\ Hoonah -- length of residence\ Hoonah -- moving to\ history -- lack of knowledge\ Hoonah -- life in\ community -- relationship|
4) The early training she received as a health aide and how she balanced the job with raising a family.
health aide -- training\ Anchorage\ Johnson, Dr. Walter -- instructor\ training -- initial\ Sitka\ baby -- newborn\ baby -- care of\ cousin -- babysitter\ baby -- birth\ Mt. Edgecumbe\ children -- number of\ daughter -- death of\ grandson -- adoption of\ job -- balance\ family -- care of\ games -- playing\ children -- help from\ husband -- support from|
5) Not worrying about money when she was doing the health aide work and when she retired.
health aide -- salary\ job -- lack of pay\ Johnson, Barbara\ Adams, Marge\ job -- wages\ money -- lack of importance\ hardship -- old age\ income -- low\ nursing home -- cost of\ grandson\ money -- relationship to\ living\ retirement -- date of\ Sitka -- pioneer home\ hospital|
6) Running the clinic out of her house, her children acting as medical assistants, and the hardships of the long work hours and difficult schedule.
clinic -- home\ home -- extra bedroom\ children -- assistants\ Wolfe, Marilyn -- daughter\ patients -- seeing\ clinic -- schedule\ schedule -- lack of\ patient care -- anytime\ job -- workload\ schedule -- day and night\ preparation -- constant\ patient -- overnight care\ airplane -- evacuation\ son -- help from\ morning -- daylight\ health aide -- experience\ job -- thankless\ job -- hardship\ job -- cannery|
7) A sense of duty she had as a health aide to provide good care to her community, the need for training, and working with visiting doctors.
money -- lack of importance\ job\ motivation\ duty\ work -- enjoyment of\ people -- care of\ nurse -- Hoonah\ doctors -- visits\ doctor visits – timing\ doctors -- instructions from\ medication\ medication -- sending for\ hospital -- sending people to\ babies -- delivery of\ training -- delivering babies\ training -- lack of\ training -- asking for\ health aide -- solo\ solo health aide -- length of time\ baby -- first delivered\ clinic -- lack of\ clinic -- home\ home care -- benefit of\ authorization -- lack of\ husband -- support from\ husband -- death|
8) The lack of clinics in Southeastern Alaska, the creation of a regional Health Aide Association, and other statewide organizations she was involved with.
clinics -- lack of\ clinics -- need for\ Health Aide Program -- support from\ clinic -- Hoonah\ job -- quit\ illness\ job -- Health Aide consultant\ job -- salary\ pay -- refusal\ Hoonah Health Aide Association -- formation of\ Health Aide Association -- role in forming\ Johnson, Barbara\ Association -- regions\ Southeast group\ Northern group\ Health Aide Association -- spokesman for\ communities -- involvement of\ wages -- fighting for\ healthcare -- control of\ State School Board Association President -- length of time\ Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand President -- length of time\ Hoonah Representative for the Tlingit and Haida Council\ Alaska Native Sisterhood -- lifetime member|
9) Surgery training she received and how she used that knowledge to successfully treat a boy who had been in a serious accident.
health aide program -- management of\ Indian Health Service -- reporting to\ Indian Health Service -- rules\ Mt. Edgecumbe -- recommendation from\ training -- Anchorage\ training -- surgery\ surgery -- observing\ Cook, Alma\ incident -- traumatic\ accident -- boy\ boy -- scalped\ boy --transfer to home clinic\ husband -- help from\ wound -- treatment of\ wound -- cleaning\ treatment -- successful\ Juneau\ doctor -- congratulations from\ infections -- danger of|
10) The flu epidemic in Hoonah.
Hoonah -- flu epidemic\ patients -- care of\ house -- visits\ visits -- after hours\ people -- sick\ health aide -- solo\ doctor -- lack of\ work -- schedule\ work -- day and night\ exhaustion\ doctor -- visit from\ work -- break\ sleep\ sick people -- treatment of\ villagers -- support\ support -- lack of\ Brown, Beatrice -- help from|
11) Her experience of being the only health aide and being afraid during her first years, and using elder's advice about how to recognize broken bones.
health aide -- predecessor\ Jackson, Florence\ Jackson, Florence -- death\ drowning\ health aide -- solo\ health aide -- untrained\ scared\ elders -- advice from\ medicine --traditional\ medical knowledge -- broken bones\ incident -- serious accident\ Johnson, Barbara -- son\ hip -- broken\ hospital -- sent to\ doctor -- surprised\ health aide -- abilities\ doctors -- trust from\ health aides -- prove themselves\ Adams, Marge\ Johnson, Barbara\ learning -- motivation|
12) The struggle of being a health aide and a mother, and why she stayed with the job.
health aide -- training\ Sitka -- training\ health aide -- job\ job -- offered\ job -- paternalistic offer\ job -- initial refusal\ people -- consultation from\ people -- collaboration with\ Anchorage -- training\ family -- balance\ children -- left behind\ mother -- type of\ mother -- good\ good mother -- worried about being\ children -- no complaints\ job -- quit\ quit -- thoughts about\ duty -- sense of\ people -- care for|
13) Prejudice against Alaska Natives and the rising pride of being a health aide.
organizations -- Native\ organizations -- management\ Natives -- role of\ Native officers -- difficulty\ prejudice\ officers -- responsibilities\ Indian -- hard to be\ officer -- hard to become\ School Board -- member of\ school board member -- selection\ travel -- amount of\ absence\ family -- help from\ husband -- help from\ health aide -- solo\ travel -- lack of\ Brown, Beatrice -- health aide\ Indian -- prejudice against\ white people -- preference for\ Tlingit -- untrustworthy\ coworkers -- close to\ work -- lifting prejudice\ Tlingit culture -- ambassadors\ Indians -- looked down upon\ hard work\ independence\ self esteem|
14) The little amount of training she had, the need to have confidence in reacting to medical cases even if she did not feel that she knew what she was doing, and communicating with doctors in Sitka.
training\ medical care\ babies -- delivering\ treatment -- burns\ treatment -- sickness\ children -- help from\ training -- lack of\ incidents -- dealing with\ untrained\ incidents -- scared\ Hoonah\ midwife -- lack of\ Wolfe, Trudy -- age of\ experienced health aide -- lack of\ experience -- lack of\ confidence -- acting with\ trust -- self\ Mount Edgecumbe -- doctors\ doctors -- communicating with\ radio -- use of\ telephone -- need for\ telephone -- introduction of\ doctor and patient -- conversing together\ phone -- ringing|
15) Two emergency situations she dealt with that led to thoughts about quitting.
incident -- emergency\ incident -- day time\ accident -- head injury\ patient -- acting natural\ headache\ airplane -- flying to Angoon\ wife -- warning\ patient -- behavior\ behavior -- crazy\ behavior -- violent\ telephone -- Angoon\ Hoonah -- return to\ amnesia -- no treatment\ Juneau -- sent to\ death -- internal bleeding\ death -- responsibility for\ incident -- boat accident\ victim -- almost drowned \ job -- quitting\ quitting -- thoughts about|
16) Getting help from her family on medical cases, and begins to tell a story about when her husband died.
husband -- support from\ house calls -- husband went with\ husband's boss -- support from\ children -- help from\ emergency -- need for help\ other people -- no support from\ patients -- loss of\ job -- quitting\ husband -- death\ Hoonah\ Hoonah -- driving back to\ hill -- going over\ weather -- snowy\ car -- getting stuck|
17) The amount of work involved with the Health Aide Association's struggle to provide treatment to both Native and non-Native people in the community.
work -- schedule\ vacation -- lack of\ availability -- constant\ health care -- Native people\ health aide program -- Native people\ Natives -- care of\ non-Natives -- exclusion of\ equal treatment\ Health Aide Association -- lobbying for\ health aides -- respected\ duty -- sense of\ health care -- equal access\ health care -- non-Natives\ health care -- Natives\ ethical issue -- strong feelings\ people -- helping\ health aides -- meetings\ job -- end of\ meetings -- end of\ meetings -- benefit of\c ommunication -- need for\ colleagues -- support from|
18) The amount of stress and how she dealt with it.
stress -- amount of\ incidents -- stressful\ scalped boy -- treatment of\ gunshot wound -- treatment of\ airplane -- evacuation\ stressful situations -- hunting\ stress relief -- talking\ family -- support from\ Johnson, Barbara -- support from\ preparation -- level of\ unexpected situations -- dealing with\ situations -- learning from\ incident -- broken hip\ hip -- treatment\ hospital\ babies -- sick\ work -- schedule\ workload -- day and night|
19) The low salary of a health aide and the need to work two jobs to support a family.
job -- salary\ pay -- low\ work -- adjustments\ store -- clerk\ house visits -- incapable of\ people -- understanding\ patients -- calls from\ patient calls -- lunch time\ emergencies\ jobs -- number of\ jobs -- simultaneous\ job -- health aide\ job -- clerk\ store -- location of\ money -- need for\ job -- brother-in-law\ job -- crab cannery\ health aides -- wages\ wages -- low\ making a living -- difficulty|
20) How she began as a health aide and how she felt when she was the only health aide in the community.
health aide -- becoming \ incident -- first\ incident -- house burning\ Senior Health Aide -- help from\ health aide -- solo\ feeling -- weird \ feeling -- loneliness\ feeling -- insecurity\ stress -- dealing with\ health -- personal\ infection -- knee\ patient -- not good\ Hoonah\ suicide -- level of\ gunshots -- number of|
21) The medical equipment she used and her career as a health aide consultant.
equipment -- medical\ black bag\ otoscope -- importance of\ otoscope -- uses\ equipment -- recent\ equipment -- changes\ job -- health aide consultant\ workshops -- consulting\ job -- part time\ people -- trust|
22) The doctors involved in the Health Aide Program and the Indian Health Service health care regions.
Juneau\ Willhike, Dr.\ McKabe, Dr. (1:20)\ Sitka\ Mount Edgecumbe\ Nash, Dr.\ Pennington, Dr. -- adopted son\ doctors -- quality\ doctors -- relationship with\ patients -- Mt. Edgecumbe\ health care -- service areas\ Hoonah\ Indian Health Service\ hospital -- management\ hospital -- Juneau\ patients -- sending to Juneau\ Juneau hospital -- overloaded\ health care -- control of\ Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) -- taking over\ health management -- changes in\ difference -- lack of|
23) Being proud to be an Indian, the new Hoonah clinic being named after her, and the effect of her health aide work on her children's career choices.
traditional healing -- lack of\ duty -- sense of\ Indian -- pride\ identity -- defending\ temper\ incident -- Juneau\ clinic -- Hoonah\ clinic -- new\ clinic -- moving\ clinic -- named after\ children -- careers\ children -- medically oriented\ daughter -- death\ death -- drowning\ children -- jobs|
24) What type of person makes a good health aide.
health aide -- personality\ health aide -- skills\ non-drinker\ listener\ alcoholism -- problem\ advice -- encouragement\ health aide -- depended on\ drinking -- enjoyment\ Health Council\ Peterson, Caroline -- president\ health aide -- chosen\ drinking -- quit|
25) Her dream of being a doctor and going to school.
health aide -- career\ career -- content with\ doctor -- dream of becoming\ higher education -- lack of\ economic support -- lack of\ family -- opposition from\ ?, Tim -- older brother\ older brother -- influence of\ school -- pay for\ Superintendent -- job offer\ school -- Sitka\ mother -- opposition from\ father -- support from\ Sheldon Jackson school\ Sheldon Jackson school -- local students\ local students -- exclusion\ work -- babysitter\ work -- housecleaning\ siblings -- number of\ sisters -- dead|
26) The reason why she wanted to become a doctor and her experience in school.
doctor -- helping people\ people -- different\ people -- meeting\ Sheldon Jackson school\ mother -- sick\ school -- quit\ staff -- encouragement from\ school -- return to\ school -- graduation\ newborn brother-- taking care of\ mother -- taking care of\ health aide\ parents -- proud|
27) How her life changed after quitting her job and how happy she was to recount her life as a health aide.
health aide -- quitting\ retirement\ life -- boring\ Sitka -- moved to\ Sitka -- changes\ Hoonah -- moving from\ Hoonah -- length of residence\ Sitka Home -- length of residence\ Hoonah -- return to\ friend -- support from\ son -- opposition from\ Anchorage -- surgery\ health aide -- story of| |
