Work Trips

One thing that has been unique with my job is that I do some traveling. SEARHC stands for SOUTH EAST ALASKA Regional Health Consortium...so...we handle the south east needs for optometric care as best we can. There is a doctor full-time in Juneau and he handles small villages such as Kake, Angoon, and Hoonah. Pam and I handle not only Sitka, but also Klowack on Prince of Wales Island and Yukatat. Each of us spend 1 or 2 weeks a year in Yukatat and 3-4 in Klowack. One of the doctors and one of the optometric assistants travels together. It is interesting to see a different place and help out the smaller outlying areas. We are never bored on these trips...in fact, we don't have enough time to see everyone who either needs or wants an appointment.
This year we have a new trip to do. It is only temporary though. The doctor in Juneau is an Indian Health Service officer and is retiring this summer. He will come back to work for SEARHC in October/November as a regular employee. In the mean time he is taking a leave of absence during which Pam and I will be covering for him at 1 week a month each. So I will have 3 trips to Juneau.
It will be kind of nice since Juneau is about 5 times bigger than Sitka and I can shop for more things at lower prices. The local method of travel is to take a duffle bag in your suit case or pack a small case in a bigger one and then fill up the empty one with shampoo, crackers...etc.
My first trip to Juneau starts this coming Monday. I will see patients M-Th. With Annika(our former exchange student/host-daughter from Germany) here we decided that she need to see more than just Sitka and we arranged for her to go with me to Juneau. She can explore the area while I work. Hopefully, she won't be too bored...and the weather will be good.