By Linden Staciokas She’ll never be featured in Law & Order, but Debra Reed’s job as a health aide often requires her to become a detective. “It’s fun to figure out what a person’s medical symptoms mean. If they have to leave the village, I work out how to get them to town. Arranging travel may require hours of investigation …
When you see the TV coverage of how the Corona virus is overwhelming the U.S. health care system, the stories are about hospitals. Dressed in gear that looks like it was designed for space travel, the front line workers talk about how physically and emotionally exhausted they are, how they long for a return to normalcy. It is easy to …
By: Linden Staciokas Mariah Bifelt knew a number of health aides growing up, including her own aunt. But she never considered being one until she moved back to her home village of Hughes. “I was born in Fairbanks but raised in Hughes, leaving when I was an adult. I returned in June of 2015, and the position was sitting empty, …
Sometimes you go looking for a job, and sometimes the job finds you. Herbert “Herbie” Demit never had any intention of becoming a health aide. He’d been a carpenter, a trucker, a heavy equipment operator, and a village public safety officer, but learning precise details about the body and then applying that knowledge to diagnose and treat humans had never …
What do you do when you are in your 60s, your children have left home and your husband has retired? Not many people would say, “I think I’ll become a village health aide!” But Betty Schmitz, known as B.J., did just that. She and her husband had lived in Bettles many years before, but moved to Fairbanks and raised their …
The residents of Circle had no idea that the frightening illness of the recent newcomer would bring health to the entire community, but it did. Tina Nollner recalls, “I moved to Circle in March of 2018, and soon after got really, really sick. I felt like I was going to die and here I was in a remote village with …
Agnes Silas, Minto CHA Some people spend a lifetime trying to find their passion, what they want to contribute to the world. Others, like Agnes Silas, one of three Minto health aides, knew from her earliest years what she wanted to be when she grew up. “Even when I was little, I was interested in the medical field, in helping …
During his 27 years as a paramedic/fireman in his home state of Colorado, Dale Keeling thought he knew a lot about providing care to the ill and injured. Then he fell in love with an Alaska girl, followed her back to her hometown of Manley, and learned about the health aide career. “Her dad was a health aide in Manley …
Although Sheena Tanner resides in Missouri, she is very much rooted in Alaska. As an itinerant health aide for Tanana Chiefs Conference, Tanner works in any of the 42 villages in the TCC region where she is needed but often works in Circle. Tanner grew up in Arctic Village and left to be with her husband Michael in military service. …