"A" Season

"A" Season has arrived!  This is the biggest fishing season in Dutch Harbor which makes it a very busy time for me at the clinic.  My patient load has more than doubled over the past 4 weeks.  The nights when I am on-call I am up for most of the night with maybe 2 to 4 hours of sleep in between patients coming in. 

The first two weeks were the worst.  That was when we were seeing the majority of people.  The processing plants' new employees just got here and many of them didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.  The processors work 12 to 16 hour shifts six days a week.  They don't get a lot of sleep, are on their feet, and they are usually doing jobs that aren't particularly fun (ripping fish guts out, lifting heavy boxes onto conveyor belts, cutting the heads off fish, etc.)  The first two weeks after they arrived we were seeing a lot of them at the clinic with back pain, feet pain, arm pain, pain in muscles they didn't know they had, etc.  (We also had a viral respiratory infection that was ripping through the processing plants. They live in such close quarters in the bunk houses that when someone gets an infection it spreads like wild fire.)  Many people want to go home soon after they realize how demanding their jobs are.  I don't blame them!! I don't think I could do what they do! They work very hard.

I have to say, although I am very busy and tired, I am loving how much I am seeing and learning. In one day I will see 4-5 cough/colds/bronchitis, fish asthma, 2 - 3 back strains, possible stroke, constipation, finger laceration, hypertension follow up, broken hand, shoulder pain, rash, well child check.  It keeps me thinking and on my toes.  I absolutely love my job! (Do I say that too much?  Ha!)

Someone in the grocery store told me that we are about 40% through the season at this point.  I think I am going to make it!  :)

(This was a staged photo for my provider brochure at work. Not a real patient.)