Mary Malemute officially started as a health aide in December of 2008, but her heart had long been pushing her toward that career choice. “Even as a kid, I was interested in the health field and in helping my community, and being a health aide combined both of those desires. My father’s sister and my husband’s auntie were both health aides and they encouraged me to go for it.”
Mary Malemute officially started as a health aide in December of 2008, but her heart had long been pushing her toward that career choice. “Even as a kid, I was interested in the health field and in helping my community, and being a health aide combined both of those desires. My father’s sister and my husband’s auntie were both health aides and they encouraged me to go for it.”
She was not ready to pursue a career until her two children were older, but once they were, Mary applied the next time there was an opening. Having been born and raised in Koyukuk, she was committed to serving the family and friends she had known all her life.
When Mary started the job, there was another health aide in the village. However, half a year after starting and now, she has been the only health aide so she is on call around the clock every single day. For her, that is one of the hardest parts of the job. “Every time the phone rings, I wonder if I will have to go into work. It means I have to stay in the village so I am immediately available. If the family wants to go snow machining or boating, which is something we like to do, I have to find someone who can cover those hours.”
One of the ways the job has gotten easier, however, is with the steady introduction of new and constantly improving equipment and technology. Information about diagnosis and treatment used to be located in heavy books that health aides had to tote around; when new methods for treating diseases came out, those changes would not appear until print out stickers to add to the book or another edition of a book arrived. Today, Mary has the absolute latest information available on the computer or iPad, so the treatments offered to patients are always up to date.
Charting, too, has been modernized so that paper has been eliminated; Mary enters the information directly onto the computer-based files. This means they can easily be accessed by medical providers in Fairbanks, if a patient has to go there for treatment. And now patients can access the system, too, messaging their medical teams, viewing their medical history, scheduling appointments or viewing past appointments.
Mary would advise anyone trying to decide on a career to take a close look at the health aid field. It would be difficult to find a job that offers as much: it is intellectually challenging, trains you how to help others during the times they are the most vulnerable, pays well, has a good benefits package, has supportive colleagues and supervisors, and offers the choice of itinerant or village-based living. It is true that the training is hard and intense, there is the stress of often being the only medical person in the village, and not always being able to cure neighbors and family members you know and love is agonizing. But for the right person, it can be a very fulfilling career. It certainly was the right choice for Mary.
Asked if she wanted to mention anyone who has been critical to her being able to stay a health aide as long as she has, Mary said, “I have two people to thank, for being able to fill in when I need a break from being on-call: my mom, Darlene Lolnitz, and my husband’s auntie Josie Dayton. They are Emergency Trauma Technicians and have always been available to help me however I need them. And a big thank you to my husband, daughter, son, family and friends for being my support and being there for me when things get difficult.”
Mary has no immediate plans to leave her position but she does want to work on getting her college diploma. She is two units short of completing her associate degree at UAF, after which she will look into possibly entering a program to become a physician’s assistant.
Darlene Bifelt, Mary Malemute’s supervisor, describes her as, “A compassionate healthcare worker who for the last few years has been a solo Health Aide. In addition, she can be relied upon to undertake various responsibilities such as the contact person for Clinic Water & Sewer, Heat & Fuel, Emergency Back-up Generator and Telephone issues. She definitely lives up to the name ‘Jill of all Trades!’”
By Linden Staciokas