Metlakatla

I arrived in Metlakatla (Met). Well, perhaps I should describe how I did this. I flew, via jet, in to Ketchikan’s airport on an island across the channel from the main city. After taking a ferry across I walked down a few blocks towards Taquan Airways, all-the-while float planes were buzzing around like mosquitoes, bald eagles were perched everywhere watching vigilantly, and whales had been spotted coming down the channel. I reached Taquan and clambered into a small four-seated beaver (that's a type of float-plane for those non-Alaskans) loaded down with US post. We taxied out on to the water and waited for the “traffic” to clear before the roaring engine took us into the air. Soaring high over the channel I saw the whales and before I knew it we were touching down in Met. Met is a small community with just over a thousand residents and it shows. As I walked towards the clinic everyone passing in their cars gave me a friendly smile and a wave. I reached the clinic and was immediately thrown into mix. In fact, a nurse came over gave me an oral report, handed me the patient’s chart, and walked away. I chased after her and explained how it was my first day and I would love to treat the patient with someone in the room with me. She smiled and assigned me to one of the health care providers and I followed Michele for the rest of the day. Michele is a PA and she was AWESOME! She explained her thought process as we proceeded and answered every one of my questions. It was a fun experience.

The next day I shadowed Dr. Crosby, an elderly gentleman from S. Carolina with an accent to prove it. He is the type of physician I strive to be. His patients love him, his co-workers admire him, and he is insanely smart. There is another 4^th year medical student here, Spencer, from Harvard and he is teaching me a TON! We go in together to see each patient and I get to do the interview and any questions I forget, he asks. Then we do the physical exam and present to the physician. It is the perfect set up. But today I only saw 2 patients before we had an emergency. An elderly gentleman came in with symptoms of a stroke. I almost got to put in an IV and everyone was running around like crazy. It turned out to be a game of “hurry up and wait” because the patient had to be transported to Ketchikan via boat and the boat was not ready. After 40mins of waiting we wrapped up the patient and took the 30min ride to Ketchikan and handed him over to their staff. The rest of the day we wondered around town and waited for them to fuel up and get some other business out of the way. I am hoping that someone will take me fishing while I am in Met because the weather is unbelievable. Stay tuned for more and photos!!