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Alaska Pacific University received a nearly $3 million grant from the Department of Labor to improve and diversify rural and tribal healthcare.
According to a study by National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, Alaska is projected to have the highest number of nursing vacancies in 2030, with almost a quarter of positions left unfilled.
This is in response to Alaska’s nursing shortage.
The university partnered with organizations in Bethel, a city of 6,000 that’s majority Yup’ik, to offer a Licensed Practical Nursing program.
As KYUK’s Sunni Bean reports – nine students have graduated so far, and more to come.
The new nursing program is rigorous, and many students have to travel for hours on snowmobiles or take multiple flights to get to clinicals and exams.
“They have families, they have lives, they have jobs, they have a lot of things, a lot of responsibility.”
That’s Marianne Murray, Director and Professor of Nursing at Alaska Pacific University.
The majority of nurses in the U.S. are white women. But not in this program.
Diane Droutman, the coordinator of the LPN program, says the scheduling is different too – she and a Bethel-based partner designed a one week on and one week off schedule.
“And she was like, we can do that. And I went, we’re starting the program. We can do whatever we want.”
They also split up the program, so instead of completing a three to four year program in one go, students can start with a six to nine week program. Then they can work. Then, they can go back to get the next degree.
“If there’s one thing I’ve realized, since living in Alaska for the last, what, 12 years now, it’s that you have to pretty much grow your own, especially if you want people to stay.”
Murray says there’s a roadmap to building a homegrown Alaskan nursing corps. That means increasing faculty and partnerships, so they have access to clinical environments to teach students in.
APU also wants to teach cultural safety, a framework developed for health equity for Native people in New Zealand.
“One of the big tenants of the culturally safe health care is removing that power level, like the doctor has all the power. Because the patients know what their life is like they know what they can and can’t do.”
It’s challenging for APU to operate in the bush. At times, they have no water, and internet drops. So, they give thumb drives with slides, hard-copy back up of exams, and now, they’re getting high fidelity simulation mannequins, for which they’re planning to record Elders speaking in Yup’ik, for simulations practicing overcoming language barriers.
The Little Free Library, which provides library boxes and books to communities, is working to expand its Indigenous Library Program.
Talia Miracle (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska), Little Free Library Program Manager, is leading the initiative.
She says the program grants library boxes and books to Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada.
“In some of these areas book access is really limited. The goal of the program is to provide more book access to strengthen the communities and inspire readers and to support positive literacy outcomes.”
The libraries and books are granted through an application process.
Those accepted in the program receive a library box to build or a fully assembled one, and a bundle of books.
“We start off the library with 50 books. 25 of those are written by BIPOC authors and the other 25 are written by Indigenous authors or they center the Indigenous experience. We bring really high-quality books into the community through this program.”
Miracle says not only is it important for Indigenous communities to have books they can relate to, but also to offer different levels of books for readers.
“I think it’s also important for kids to see their parents reading so we provide multiage books. We just know having books in the home supports literacy outcomes.”
Applications can be found online at littlefreelibrary.org.
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