Open My Eyes, I See Sky

I saw blue sky today! And it stayed around for more than a few minutes. I was making my way back from another mind-numbing day of orientation related power points and computer training when all of a sudden the clouds broke. Now, don't get any ideas: the sun didn't actually shine. But it was nice to see blue.

So I am officially oriented, though it doesn't feel that way at all. Tomorrow I start on the wards and am paired up with another family doc. I think that's when the real orientation begins. Or trial by fire. At this point I'm ready to minimize the down time and dive in. Down time = time for fretting.

Tonight I was invited to a dinner party to welcome some docs on "site visits". I've learned that this means docs who are being wooed for permanent positions (of which there are a few up here - R3s take note!). Tonight's event was welcoming an FP from Kentucky and a pediatrician from Virginia. We ate delicious sushi in one of the permanent family doc's absolutely gorgeous home. He and his wife have been here for many years and raised 4 daughters here (schooled in the Bethel schools, now in college or med school in the lower 48). It reminded me a bit of the ex-pat community in Kijabe. The docs here are passionate about the community in which they live and work and can't imagine being a doctor anywhere else.

Bethel, like many rural sites, is definitely a place to acquire unique skills, especially for a family doc. I learned tonight that there is 1 OB doc here who rotates 3 weeks on and 2 weeks off. There are also 2 FPs that do c-sections. There is a nurse anesthetist (for emergent c-sections) but no epidurals. The c-section rate is extremely low (like 2%). Though all high risk OB patients and VBACs are sent to Anchorage, which definitely contributes to the low rate. OB patients from the outlying villages have a "Be In Bethel" (BIB) date. At 36 weeks they are required to come to Bethel and stay in "prematernal" housing to wait it out. I hear you can see throngs of pregnant women walking the streets to try to induce labor. I'll have to figure out where they walk. Sounds like quite a sight.

On that note, I'm going to stop spewing all this newfound knowledge. It is starting to make me feel a little tachycardic just thinking about it all. And I'm trying to be zen about my first day...