If only high school teachers who feel discouraged about how much they really impact students could meet people like Heather Kangas, the health aide in Ruby. Her path to becoming a first responder to her community began with her high school teacher encouraging her to take a college level anatomy and physiology class. Learning about the miracles of how the skeleton and organs of the human body function sparked her interest like no other subject had.
Born in Anchorage and raised in Stebbins and Ohio, Heather, her husband, and her children moved to his home village of Ruby in 2009. At that time, her sister-in-law was the only health aide in Ruby, and she needed help, so she encouraged Heather to apply. After the village council agreed to her candidacy, Heather began the lengthy process of becoming a fully-fledged Community Health Practitioner.
Full certification requires completing four intensive training sessions, each about a month long; students are paid during this training so that they can concentrate on their studies without the worry of how they can support themselves during this time. After each session, conducted in Fairbanks, a trainee must work with at least four patients, all under the guidance of the training supervisor. Only then is the trainee eligible to go to the next session, again followed by working with at least four patients with the training supervisor. The training can seem intimidating, but the training supervisors and other health aides work with students every step of the way, helping them through difficult parts and encouraging them until they have successfully graduated.
Heather first started as a health aide in 2009, initially staying two years and then returning to the position in January of 2023. Being gone for a time, when she returned, she was amazed at how computers have changed the job for the better. The medical record keeping is now electronic, with supervising doctors in Fairbanks able to immediately pick up the notes on a specific patient. This means health aides are able to provide the most appropriate care for the patient, and it allows for speedier coordination of travel and appointments with specialists at Chief Andrew Isaacs in Fairbanks.
The amount of documentation expected of health aides, as well as the administrative tasks involved in running the Ruby clinic, were somewhat of a surprise to Heather. Patient care is the major focus of the training and the usual reason people become medical providers, so other tasks involved in providing health care can be less enjoyable. Nevertheless, she finds great satisfaction in her career. As she says, “I love being able to help the people in my community. Providing care, advocating for them, being the eyes and ears of medical people in Fairbanks, is rewarding and fascinating…being on call around the clock on top of my regular day-to-day duties can be stressful but I would not trade any of it.”
She handles the stress by spending time with her husband and four children doing family-oriented activities. “I used to do more individual activities, like beading, sewing, and knitting, but did not have the patience to become very skilled at any of those. Now that we have faster speed internet, I do enjoy online game playing, especially with my sister in Georgia. But really, I get my greatest pleasure and relaxation doing things with my family.”
Asked what she would tell people thinking about becoming health aides, Heather says, “The information and skills they teach you in the program are so interesting! As a first responder you get to provide life saving care, far beyond what you get to do in other health care roles like that of Certified Nursing Assistants. And the entire staff of the program is so supportive.” She would like to get the word out that by becoming a health aide you can make a good living helping others. And if you have an interest in going further in the medical field, being a health aide can be a stepping stone into becoming a Physician’s Assistant.
No one has a successful career without the help of many others. Heather especially appreciates, “my husband Jonathan, who is my biggest supporter. And my in-laws have always been so good at helping me, especially when I have middle of the night callouts and my husband is not here to stay with the children. Also, my Coordinator Instructor Keith Lund is a huge support, always making sure I am set up with the information and help I need in general as well as with specific cases.”
She hopes that telling her story will do for someone else what her high school teacher did for her—spark the flame that leads to a career that is never boring and saves lives.