When Sheena Tanner last appeared in this newsletter, in January of 2020, she was an itinerant health aide. Today she is back, only this time she is a CHAP Trainer, helping others pursue their dreams of medical careers. Her employment history with Tanana Chiefs perfectly illustrates that you can start out with no experience in the health field and, with training, have a world of opportunities open up to you.
Asked who was pivotal in starting her on this path, Sheena immediately named and expressed gratitude to the Arctic Village Council. She says that back in 2013, “I was a stay-at-home mom with no work experience, and they invested in me,” recommending that she be trained as their health aide. She filled that position until her husband wanted to move closer to his family in Missouri. Rather than giving up her job, Sheena became an itinerant health aide. This gave her the freedom to work blocks of time in various villages but in between assignments she could spend time in Missouri with her husband and children.
Early in 2023, Sheena moved back to Alaska full time. She needed a more consistent income than what was available to her as an itinerant, so when she saw the opening for a trainer in the CHAP program, she applied. The interview required applicants to design and teach a class in front of the entire hiring committee, to demonstrate not only their knowledge but also how well they could pass on that information to others. That task was challenging, recalled Sheena. “I actually had fun preparing that class, but even though I knew most of the people on the room, I still felt a little intimidated.”
Sheena began her current position in March of 2023. When the training modules for new health aides are in session, she works at the training center in Fairbanks. Asked if the training is very different now from when she first took classes a decade ago, Sheena stated that while there is always added information coming out in the medical field, the training is not very different. It was intense and strict then and continues to be so, graduating people who are fully capable of functioning as the first line providers in the often remote villages they serve.
In between sessions, Sheena works as an itinerant health aide, which allows her to keep current on medical advancements and practices and thus easily meet her licensing requirements. This also insures that she doesn’t lose touch with the difficulties that come with being the only medical person for hundreds of miles, required to provide care from birth to death.
Sheena is still settling into her job as a trainer, but she knows that there are other opportunities available for the future. The TCC career ladder includes higher positions in the bureaucracy or more training that could lead to becoming a nurse or physician’s assistant. She continues to find the organization flexible and supportive of the professional growth of the staff, and knows this includes arranging schedules so that she could take classes if she wanted an advanced degree.
Asked if there was anyone else besides the Arctic Village Council Sheena wanted to thank for helping her succeed in her career, she promptly said, “My cousin Nikkitta Smoke. When she was going through her health aide training, she posted information about what she was learning and her progress. Seeing her do it lit the first spark in me, the idea that I might be able to do it, too.” Sheena hopes that talking about her experiences in places like this newsletter will similarly encourage someone else to enter a field that she still finds fulfilling and exciting after all these years.