Day 12 - Motivational Interviewing and Blackerby Ridge Trail

I woke up early this morning because I had my Motivational Interviewing seminar at 8 AM. Luckily, Dr. Dee agreed to pick my up so I didn't have to take the 6:50 AM bus to SEARHC. I got there a little early to take advantage of the free breakfast - bagels from Silverbow. I think I have officially joined the workforce - short hours, long lunches, and making sure to take advantage of any and all free food around the office!

The Motivational Interviewing workshop was run by Dr. Steven Cole from Stony Brook. Dr. Cole is a physchiatrist and, along with a few others in his practice, has been working to develop the concept of Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is a way of developing brief action plans with patients who wish to adjust a certain aspect of their lifestyle. This could be something as simple as cleaning out a car or something as complicated as quitting smoking or starting a weekly exercise regimen.

The main concept of MI is for the patient to recognize an issue they wish to address and for the patient to verbalize how they are going to fix it. This is not just a doctor rambling off statistics and lecturing an unhealthy patient. The doctor asks simple, open-ended questions that allow the patients to formulate their own responses and plans. For example, a doctor would not say, "You are obese, I think you should start walking 3 times a week". Instead, the doctor would say, "What is something you would like to do to address your issue of obesity?". This is important because it allows the patient to come up with their own solutions and create ways in which to hold themselves accountable. Instead of just being accountable to the doctor, patients can create action plans in which they are accountable to spouses, friends, or co-workers. The doctor will then write up a detailed action plan that patients can hang on their refrigerator or keep in their wallets.

The reason that I find MI to be interesting is because the patient base at SEARHC dental is not receptive to many of the suggestions or ideas of the dentists. All of the patients who visit the clinic are Native Alaskan, so many still feel they are being experimented on or simply being used as practice. As a result, they refuse to listen to much of the advice the dentists offer and end up with severe dental disease. With MI, dentists in the clinic can transition from a lecture style to a style in which they allow patients to come up with their own solutions to their dental problems (with dentist supervision, of course!).

After the workshop, I met Dr. Bornstein at the dental clinic. We went to the Juneau Market to pick up sandwiches and then headed off the Blackerby Ridge Trail. Dr. Bornstein warned me the trail was steep right before we began, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. The elevation change from where we started to the top of the ridge was over 2,000 ft, but let me say, it was well worth it.

We hiked for about 2 hours until we reached the alpine portion of the ridge. It was really neat to be standing on snow while in shorts and a t-shirt. At one point we were hiking up the ridge and noticed a bird off in the distance. Before we knew it, a bald eagle flew about 3 feet over our heads. I'd say that beats the zoo any day! The view from the top of Blackerby Ridge was incredible. In one direction you could see the Juneau Icefield which was filled with glacier runoffs. In another direction you could see the city of Juneau. In a third direction, if you looked close enough, you were looking into Canada. There was a tiny pond on top of the ridge which is apparently a prime picnic spot in the summer. Since we went 2,000 ft up that meant we had to go 2,000 ft back down. I'm fairly surprised that my calves and knees did not simply revolt and stop working midway through the hike.

For dinner, the Bornstein family invited me to come to a Friday night potluck Shabbat dinner. The temple is on Douglas Island and is extremely different than anything I have ever experienced before. It is essentially a small wooden building with one giant room. We all gathered around on folding chairs as we ate and conducted a small Friday evening service. I think there may have been about 12 people there, and that was most of the Jews of Juneau.

After the service, a professor from Brandeis named David Sachs came to speak about Taglit - Birthright. Dr. Sachs recently wrote a book about how the Birthright experience affects young Jewish adults. He spoke about some of the data and how it shows the experience is extremely meaningful to young adults in terms of recognizing their Jewish identity. This is something I can vouch for as I was a Birthright participant through Vanderbilt last summer. While Dr. Sachs was interested in telling the parents and adults about the results of his data, many were more interested in hearing my stories about hiking Masada, laying out on the beach, and experiencing Tel-Aviv's vibrant nightlife. At one point I said I went on the trip with 30 Jewish friends from Vanderbilt and a mother sitting next to me gasped. She said she can't wait for the day her son can too say that he has 30 Jewish friends. I guess being Jewish in a place like Juneau, AK is just that different.

That's about it for today. I'm hoping that I will be able to walk tomorrow after my strenuous hike today, but I'm not making any promises. Good thing it's the beginning of a 3-day weekend (and a Cards/Cubs weekend at that!).

**I added pictures to the album from my hike on Blackerby Ridge so be sure to check them out!**