KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
For one trip every summer, the ferry Tustumena turns into something that’s halfway between a clinic and a carnival. Eight medical professionals were on board last week to host health fairs in five villages down the Alaska Peninsula and across the Aleutian Chain. Basically, wherever the Tustumena makes her stops. Alexandra Gutierrez has more from Unalaska.
The traveling health fair is organized by the Native health organization Eastern Aleutian Tribes, and they’ve been doing this for three years now. Despite all the running around and excitement, the project isn’t a stunt – it just seemed like the most pragmatic way to get health information out to remote communities like Akutan and Cold Bay.
[healthfair – 1, 14s, out-cue: "like a health fair"]
That’s Michael Cassista, a public health nurse with the State of Alaska. He came along to talk about immunizations. We spoke on Friday afternoon in False Pass, at one of the more relaxed stops. The night before, he’d been up working until nearly midnight at the Sand Point ferry stop, where a 25-foot-long inflatable colon had been blown up. That morning, he was doing it all again when the Tustumena stopped in King Cove at 6:30.
[healthfair – 2, 21s, out-cue: "they were out"]
In False Pass, there about eight red tables set up in the tribal warehouse just a short walk from the dock. They’re covered with pamphlets on diabetes, nutrition, and sexual health and goodies like berry-picking buckets, bouncy balls, and granola bars. False Pass has a population of 55, and it seems like half the town shows up. There are lots of families there, and on top of collecting treats, the kids like Noah Samuelson talk to the healthcare providers. He learned how much exercise you have to do to burn off a milkshake.
[healthfair – 3, 19s, out-cue: "much calories"]
Ruth Hoblet has lived in False Pass for 37 years, and she says that it’s not just kids who benefit from the fairs.
[healthfair – 4, 8s, out-cue: "a lot from it"]
She also says that it’s nice to have multiple clinicians come out and talk to community members, since usually there’s only one person available to provide health care.
[healthfair – 5, 15s, out-cue: "happened to you"]
According to Eastern Aleutian Tribes executive director Michael Christiansen, well over 100 people attended the fairs, and in both False Pass and Sand Point, the towns’ entire adolescent target population participated.
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