I got back from Alaska this morning after flying all night. It is VERY good to be home. I hadn't seen Alison and the boys for almost 4 weeks, so it was great to have today to just hang out at home. The weekend prior to this last Alaska trip I went to Seattle to see the sights. I just thought I would share some pics of the trip.

Alaska Eye Care

Eye care in remote Alaskan villages is interesting. I just saw a 13 year old girl for her first eye exam. She couldn't even see the the big "E" on the chart. Her first pair of glasses will be a real "eye opener" for her. Yesterday I found a full thickness macular hole in a woman which is a hole in the retina right over the central seeing part of the retina. I explained to her that she needed to see a specialist in Anchorage. She said that maybe sometime in August or September she could go to Anchorage. I had to explain for quite a while that this was not something to wait several months for. I also had a lady yesterday with advanced glaucoma. She was not using her glaucoma medication because she needed to go to the clinic in Bethel for a new prescription. I explained to her that she needed to make this a priority as she could go blind from glaucoma. I also had a man yesterday with dense cataracts in each eye. He will also need to fly to Anchorage for surgery. It is much harder for the villagers to get care for health problems. They can't just drive to the doctor. They have to take a bush plane to Bethel which will usually stop at a few villages along the way, then a jet from Bethel to Anchorage. They usually will also have to stay overnight in Anchorage before returning home, so it is a lot of time and expense just to go see a doctor. They are usually very happy that we travel out to their village.

Kotlik

Today I am in Kotlik, Alaska which is located on the Yukon river. This is a boardwalk village so there are no roads, just boardwalks running through the village. Everyone walks, bikes or rides 4 wheelers on the boardwalks. There are no cars in the entire village. This time of year there are tons of huge mosquitoes so walking outside is pretty rough. The salmon run is going on right now so much of the village is out fishing, so things are a little slow as far as doing eye exams. We are set up in the school so I have internet, but the boilers are turned off in the school so no heat or warm water. Yesterday I took a walk along the river on a boardwalk. There are small boats lining the shore and lots of fish hanging to dry behind houses. It stays light here almost all the time so the kids stay up really late playing outside. I usually go to bed by midnight and there are always lots of young kids still outside running around. We had to charter a flight in the morning to our next stop, Mountain Village. The flight is about 20 minutes, but cost $750 since it is a charter. Food at the little grocery stores here is also very expensive. Yesterday my one bag of groceries cost $77. We have already been in Alakunuk and Emmonak on this trip, which are also along the Yukon. In Emmonak we stayed in the Emmonak "hotel" It is an old two story building with the bingo hall and city offices on the first floor and some really dirty rooms on the upper floors. We paid $105 dollars a night for the rooms. I talked to one villager who told me he remembers this building being built when he was a child in the 70's. He said it was the only two story building in town and he thought it was "the biggest building in the world".