A fun and relaxed day today. The weather here continues to be amazing - it's a shame I can't wear shorts to the clinic! The bus ran a little late this morning so my office mates who tease me for my 4 day a week, 6 hour a day work schedule added a little fuel to their fire. They may get to tease me while I'm in the clinic, but I'm the one laughing when I get to run or hike while they are still seeing temperamental patients on days like today.
I spent the majority of the day pretesting my telephone survey on members of the dental staff. They all had a great time making up funny names and outlandish excuses about why they had "missed" recent dental appointments. Even though the pretesting ended up being fun and lively it was actually very helpful. If there is one thing I have learned in my week and a half here it is that the patient base here is very difficult to deal with. I know broken appointments are a problem but, based on some of the stories I hear, I wonder if some of the dentists don't secretly wish the 25% missed appointment rate was even higher. The dentists and dental assistants who took my survey really did an excellent job of simulating some of the types of people I will be talking to over the next few weeks. It appears as if the telephone survey is done so tomorrow will be my first day calling actual patients.
I went to the medical building on the SEARHC campus to have lunch today. There was a fundraiser for a sick nurse and they served fish tacos and fry bread. We waited in line for 20 minutes only to get to the front and realize there was no more food! We had paid $10 (some donation, some for the food) so we were disappointed that all we got out of the experience was a Pepsi. The woman working the money table sensed our disappointment and offered to send food up to the dental clinic when more arrived. We headed back to the dental building and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. No food. In the end my lunch consisted of half of Dr. Dee's turkey sandwich - at least the donation was for a good cause.
This afternoon was pretty uneventful. I sent a few emails and began pretesting my waiting room survey. I hope to finalize that survey by tomorrow so that I can plan my trips to Sitka and begin seeing OB patients in the medical clinic starting next Thursday.
It's amazing how, no matter what situation you are in, interesting things always seem to happen. I got a call late last night from Dr. Sohonage asking me if I would be interested in house-sitting for friends of his from June 1st-June 14th. It was a great offer. Not only could I move out of UAS housing and save some money, but I would be closer to work and in an actual home. I was hesitant about packing and unpacking and moving in and moving out until I learned that the couple had a Husky that I would also get to care for. That sealed the deal for me. I called them late last night and agreed to meet them after work today. The house is beautiful - surrounded by woods and right on the Mendenhall River. My new best friend, Sky, is also very cute. She is very playful and enjoys scaring off bears which should make my hikes much more enjoyable. The couple who own the house is very nice. The Ray's, Sara and Jimmy, just moved to Alaska from Oregon last year. They are both professors at UAS - Sara teaches English and Jimmy is a fish biologist (Jimmy is also British which I think puts him in an even smaller minority in Juneau than me as a Jew). I move in on Memorial Day and the house is officially mine starting June 1st.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day so I will probably spend the afternoon running and hiking. I'll post pictures and keep you updated.
On another note, thanks to everyone who reads and comments on the blog. As cool as my experiences are here in Alaska, it means even more to me that people are with me every step of the way. Thanks for the support!
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