Bethel Survival Guide

Updated last 9/12/2015

WELCOME TO BETHEL!

The Paris of the Kuskokwim!

Created by Patti Clay, Peds resident 2015, adapted for Family Medicine by Rima Butler 3/2015, Updated by Marcia Haggerty April 2015 and Beth Little and Robin Holmes September 2015

While Bethel is not a large town, it can be a bit tricky to navigate your first time out here since most info is spread through word of mouth and there are certainly not many Yelp reviews to depend upon. As a basic review, Bethel is a town of approximately 7,400 people in western Alaska, located on the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. The Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) serves approximately 28,000 people spread across an area roughly the size of Oregon. There are no roads connecting the 56 villages in this area, and transportation is by small plane, boat, 4-wheeler or snow machine.

This guide includes information on your house, places in town and what to expect at work. It is not exhaustive, but it does contain enough information to help prepare you for your time in Bethel before you arrive, and to get your bearings around town once you arrive. This guide is applicable for both pediatric and family medicine residents, but pay attention to small details where our clinical duties and resources differ.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

House Address: 223 Akiak Apt B
Peds Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1630, Bethel, AK 99559

The post office is on the highway, on the left as you come in to town before the hospital. The window is open 9-5:30 Monday-Friday for packages. The lobby and P.O. Box access is open 7 a.m.–7 p.m. M-F and 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.

Family Medicine Mailing Address: Your name
“General Delivery”
Bethel, AK 99559

(go to the post office between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays with a photo ID to get your mail)

OR

Ask your peds colleagues if they mind sharing

OR

set up your own PO Box at the post office.

House Phone: 907-543-2830

Medical Staff Coordinatior: Diane Wasuli-Dock: Diane_wasuli-dock@ykhc.org. work: 543-6439

SCH Pediatric Residents: Diane is contact person for taxi vouchers/forms/etc. (Amanda Solalai will continue to be your contact for flights, etc).

Alaska Family Practice Residents: Diane is contact person for rotation schedule/ taxi vouchers/meal tickets/forms.
May Engler Marilyn_Engler@ykhc.org, arranges travel and family visits.

Resident Site Coordinators:

Pediatrics: Jennifer Hampton Jennifer_Hampton@ykhc.org (907) 545-4590

Family Medicine: Marcia Haggerty, MD Marcia_haggerty@ykhc.org or 907-545-1386

Housing issues: Leif Albertson and Jenni Dobson, who live next door in the yellow house (225B), own the home. Any house concerns should be directed to Leif for immediate attention, especially any concerns regarding heat or water. Leif’s cell number is 545-5510 and home number 543-2819. His email is leifalbertson@gmail.com.

House keys/Computer/Pager/Phone: Confirm with the resident finishing up/coming after you where these are left. One option is leaving them with Diane to pass on when she picks the next resident up or in “Club Doc” with a message to Diane about where to find them. Another option is to leave these items in the resident house in your bedroom.

Phone: Unless you have GCI or Verizon you will rely on an alternative phone while in Bethel. Forward your number or leave a voice mail message before you leave so your contacts know how to reach you! GCI and Verizon are the only carriers that work in Bethel.

Peds: 907-545-3234. You are provided with an iphone. Limited data, unlimited calling and text. (Hook up to wifi if you are browsing or you will be charged overage!)

Family Medicine: The number is 907-744-6181. It is pre-paid by the residency so you don’t have to go to GCI anymore. Attendings and Lifemed will use this phone as a contact, so when you give it out please remind them that this will ALWAYS be the family practice resident phone number. Verizon service is spotty in the hospital and will kill your battery, so this phone should serve as your work contact.

Paging: To page you from Anchorage, someone would need to call our operator at 907-543-6300 to have them text page you.

Keys: There should be three sets of keys – one set for each of the three people living at the resident house. Diane Wasuli-Dock will have a spare.

Technology: 543-6070 Use this for technology issues at work or April for internet at home (543-6525)

Recommendations Before Your Trip

Figure out whether or not to forward your mail and set it up.

Please let Diane know if you have a significant other or children that will be staying with you at anytime so that we can get family housing for you if there are kids.

Family Med: You should receive a Hireright request (approx 1 month before arrival) that JCAHO requires as a background check even though you have had them at other sites and we need that to be filled out to get you set up in our system. Susan Charles in HR will also send out a student/resident INFO sheet for you to fill out to get you into our system.

Make a shopping trip to stock up on food and save money. You are allowed three checked bags/bins up to 50 pounds each for free on the flight including carry-on and small carry-on (backpack). See below for more info on this.

Packing

Packing for 6 weeks – 8 weeks can be tricky, especially when traveling to Bethel. You are headed to a very isolated part of the country, and while there are stores and Amazon can ship to you (if you are very patient--2 weeks standard mail), it is good to come prepared. You will find a system that works for you, but here are some thoughts based on our experience thus far.

You get 3 free bags on AK airlines traveling in-state.

Peds: Peds residency provides one 18 gallon bin for groceries. Send Amanda Soliai receipt for reimbursement

Food

There is a normal size refrigerator/freezer to keep frozen/refrigerated goods for the weeks while you are in Bethel if you want to bring perishable items in a cooler/tote for the plane trip.

The grocery stores in Bethel are very well stocked, but you will be paying a Delta premium, with a gallon of milk at about $8 and flour at $10-15. If it is heavy, or has to stay cold, it is expensive.

Ice is illegal to bring on planes, so the prior recommendations have been to use frozen vegetables (some have even used frozen milk) to keep items cool.

For fresh fruits and vegetables while you are in Bethel, the major store carries its fair share, but Full Circle Farm (www.fullcircle.com) does deliver to the area. You can open an account and stop delivery while you are away from Bethel. There is also a local farmers market open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (see store area).

If you want booze, bring it. Boxed wine works well. Bethel is “damp,” which means that you can have alcohol, but you cannot buy it here.

Consider bringing with you things like soap and shampoo (all toiletries). These items are especially pricey in Bethel.

Check in with the previous resident to see if there are any communal supplies needed or if there is food left behind

Clothes

Dress code: Dress code is very casual, and is more functional than fashionable. You either have snow and ice or mud and dust, so don’t bring your super nice things. In the winter it gets as low as -40 ambient (-70 windchill), in the summer as warm as 70 degrees. Spring and Fall can be muddy and rainy. Breakup is normally early May on the Delta.

Work:

Work attire is not formal.

The hospital has scrubs for inpatient/ED, but if you have a favorite pair or two bring those as supply is limited. Do not wear scrubs outside of the hospital!

In clinic you can wear jeans on Fridays.

People often wear rain/snow boots for commute and change to shoes in office.

Xtra tuffs or similar are nice for the commute since the fastest route is across the tundra

General:

Swim suit and goggles if you plan to do laps in pool.

Running shoes (bring some that have not been outside for gym equipment, separate “dirty pair” for road running as it can be muddy and dusty).

Backpack to fill with warm gear for medevacs

General Winter:

• Warm boots
• Wool socks
• Warm parka
• Fleece
• Snow pants
• Warm gloves or mittens
• Neck gaiter
• Warm Hat
• Face mask
• Yak tracks, microspikes, or ice cleats for ice

General Fall/Spring/Summer:

• Tall rainboots (your hike across the tundra may have you in some deep water!)
• Rain coat
• Fleece

Family Medicine: There are two AKFMR snow suits hanging in the entry way for taller residents and a pair of bibs for those on the shorter side.

HOUSE

Directions to the house

Diane Wasuli-Dock may be picking you up from the airport if you have arranged that with her ahead of time by emailing Diane_Wasuli-Dock@ykhc.org. However, it’s nice to have a backup plan. There are taxis at the airport that can take you to your house. The taxi should know how to get there. The cost is $7 (no tip) and you may be riding with other people commuter style. From the airport – take the main road out of the airport. Take Chief Eddie Hoffman “Highway,” past the hospital parking lot, just past the courthouse and make a left onto Akiak. The building is about three blocks down on the left. Enter the building where it says “A” and enter the second door on the right to apartment B. There is one family medicine resident and one pediatric resident living in the house at most times.

House Basics

House is 3 bedrooms, one bathroom, large living area and one tiny kitchen. It is shared with a pediatric resident and a family medicine resident and occasionally members of his or her family. There is a crib that can be put together, but if there is a child coming, your clinical contact should be notified to ask April in housing to set up another place for you to live.

Water

You have unlimited city water, so no need to worry about usage, unlike many homes in Bethel. Be aware of this when visiting other peoples’ homes. They may be conserving water, since it is delivered on a weekly to biweekly schedule. You will probably want to filter your water for drinking. There is a Brita filter in the kitchen. You can drink the water unfiltered, but it has an odd smell/taste/color. Currently, the house has several filters in the kitchen cupboards above the oven. Ask the current resident when it was last changed.

Laundry

There is a washer and dryer in arctic entry way to the apartment. I would check with the resident who was there before you if there is any detergent there, and consider bringing some with you from Anchorage. Detergent is pretty expensive in Bethel.

Cleaning Supplies

There are limited cleaning supplies in the house. Please leave the place at least as clean or cleaner than you found it, and replace cleaning supplies if needed. There is a vacuum in the house.

Garbage

There is no garbage service in Bethel. There are dumpsters all over town and close to the resident housing. Please place any garbage in the nearby dumpster.

Internet

Internet usage is monitored, so downloads and streaming are monitored. If you go over, YKHC must pay a significant overage fee (hundreds of dollars). General internet usage is ok, but please avoid downloading movies or books and streaming movies or tv.

Food/Kitchen

The kitchen has everything you need, including microwave, coffee pot, toaster, pots/pans etc. There may also be some staples, spices, and other food items left by previous residents.

Transportation

We have a truck! For those of us who lived here in the era before the truck, we know this is a luxury. The pediatric and family medicine residents now share a very beat up pick-up. It is nice to have, since relying on taxis is a pain. Just keep in mind that gas is pricey (recently $6.75 /gallon), but luckily there are only 22 miles of road, so you don’t use that much gas.

The least expensive gas station is the one on Standard Oil Road. Please be courteous to the resident following you and leave it at least half full…especially in the winter when it should ALWAYS be at least half full. Nicholson’s on 3rd and Main has a YKHC discount for gas, not much, but every little cent counts.

On your orientation day, you will have to give YKHC your driver’s license to be photocopied. The office to go to is on the third floor of the YKHC admin building across the street from the hospital. When you exit the elevator/stairs, turn down the hallway to the right and go to the end of the hall and take a left into the last office – Risk Management. They may also have a form to fill out.

Vehicle issues

We don’t do vehicle maintenance at the hospital anymore and the maintenance dept told our current resident to contact an auto shop and have them bill YKHC. The two auto shops I am aware of are Ed’s 543-4445 by the post office and Nicholson’s at the cross street of the “hwy past the 3-way stop at main street”

Taxis

Lots of companies, they are pretty much all the same. The fare within the center of town is always $5 but if you go to Tundra Ridge, the airport or Kasayulie it is $7. YKHC had been giving us taxi vouchers, but this may be discontinued since we now have the truck. You call, give your address, they come pick you up. When you give the home address, it is 223 City Sub. Be warned that they may pick up other people along the way, and thus a 5-minute trip may turn into a much longer adventure. You are centrally located within a 10-15 minute walk to the hospital and grocery store.

Taxi drivers do not expect to get tipped in Bethel. There is a flat fee of $5-10 per person if you have to pay out of your pocket. If you do take a taxi in town, you may occasionally have to make several other stops to pick-up/drop off other passengers.

Kusko Cab: 543-2169
Quyana Cab: 543-5454
Alaska Cab: 543-2111

Work

Getting to work

You can see the hospital from our back window and there are a few ways to get there in the morning.

1. You can make a right on Akiak, pass the College and head out to the Highway and then walk along the Highway to the hospital.

2. You can go left on Akiak, then make a left on Napakiak and go to the end where you will find a bridge over the water pipes and then you are almost at the hospital. 3. Across the tundra simply walk behind our house, over the pipes, and walk across the tundra. There used to be an elevated boardwalk leading from the Cultural Center to the hospital, but it has been closed. The walk across the tundra takes you right under this old boardwalk. As long as you have mud boots or Yac Traks on, depending on the season, the tundra is much more beautiful than the other options.

For people less willing to walk through the mud, snow, ice or wind, you can always call a cab or negotiate with your roommate to use the truck.

Orientation

Be prepared for a one-day orientation with tour and stops to get your badge and passwords. After your first day of orientation, you will be given an introduction to our electronic computer system and then spend a few days shadowing providers. Pediatrics residents usually start clinical duties day 2–3 of arrival, and Family Medicine between day 2–3.

Working in Bethel

Medicine in the Delta is very different than it is in Anchorage. The majority of the villages have clinics with health aides, and some of the larger villages have sub regional clinics with health aides and mid level providers. The geographic isolation, and challenges in transporting patients across a vast area, plays a role in every patient interaction. At first this will be challenging, as you get a feel for the location of the villages and what can be managed in the village clinics, sub regional clinics and YKHC.

Schedule

Pediatric Residents: You should be given your schedule several weeks before you start. Your schedule can be found on the Google calendar that Amanda has set up. Try to let Jen Hampton or Amanda know if you have schedule requests as soon as possible to try to facilitate these. You will likely work with a different provider each day and have one week of inpatient as well as some ER shifts. During inpatient you will get to try your hand at Radio Medical Traffic (RMT). Your second and third years you will take a village trip with a provider where you will do Well Child Checks for Chronic Peds patients. When you pull up your schedule for the day on the computer you will be likely listed as “L1B or L3B.” These are filler schedules for locums (hence the “L”) and the number “1 or 3” represent which clinic you are in. The Delta clinic is the first hall and is the clinic numbered 1, Yukon clinic is the third hall and is clinic number 3. Kusko is the middle clinic and does not have pediatric providers.

Family Medicine Residents: The schedule will be ready a few days before your rotation begins. Diane will send it to you. See “KEY” below for understanding your schedule:

The Family Medicine Schedule KEY

WK: Inpatient wards “Kusko” with patients from approx 28 villages including peds, adult, OB, and radio medical traffic (hours 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) meet in the doc office by rooms 159 and 162 on the inpatient ward.

WY: Inpatient wards “Yukon”...same as Kusko except approx 28 other villages of patients

NF: 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. night float meets at 6 p.m. in the doc office by rooms 159 and 162 on inpatient. Same responsibilities as WY and WK

ER: in the ER, check the times carefully to know if it is a p.m. or a.m. shift (often 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., or 10am-10pm or noon to midnight, etc)

Peds: email whichever provider is listed to find out what time they want you to show up in the little doc office behind the peds nursing station - usually between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Village: email the provider listed to make sure they get a flight for you when they go on the trip. Occasionally we do not have any village trips in the summer due to the patients being away at fishcamp, but we will try very hard to get you on a trip during your stay here.

Clinic: email the provider listed to see what time their clinic starts and which clinic they are in...they usually start at 9 a.m. and go until 5 or 7 p.m.

If a medevac comes up while you are in the ER or on wards, most preceptors are enthusiastic to let you go, so feel free to ask. You must be ready to get in a cab and go the first time to the hangar without going home for raingear or other gear.

You should get an average of two days off per week even if they have you working weekends, so check your schedule to make sure you have that.

Hospital Essentials

There are scrubs in the men’s locker room in the OB section of the hospital. Just knock before you go in. Please return them at the end of the rotation -much appreciated by Dr. Bowerman who orders them. He prefers that none are taken from the hospital and left in a dirty laundry bin before you leave the hospital at the end of each shift.

Meal Vouchers (Family Medicine only, sorry peds!) The policy on this fluctuates substantially. Diane Wasuli-Dock of the Medical Staff Office on west wing of the hospital may give you two meal cards for each night shift you are working. The rest of your food is on your own. Do not plan on getting all of these vouchers when packing as they may not happen. The tickets are for dinner and breakfast before and after your shift. The cafeteria has limited hours.

Medical staff meetings:

Grand Rounds: Tuesdays at 8 a.m. in Main Conference room. Pediatrics will miss these due to didactics.

Interdisciplinary Rounds: Thursdays at 8 am in Main Conference room. You are encouraged to attend as there are usually interesting cases presented that provide good clinical orientation. Please feel free to bring an interesting case of your own!

High Risk OB Rounds Fridays 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. – West Wing Conference Room – Near Diane’s office in the West Wing to the left as you walk up the wheelchair ramp. As you enter the doors, go left and then turn right and go in one of the first doors on the right with a table and a few chairs. (Family Medicine only)

Village Visits

The trip to a subregional clinic is a great opportunity to experience medicine in the true village setting, and to mingle with the PAs, NPs and health aides that make the entire system function. At the majority of these clinics, you are provided with a place to sleep and there is a sleeping bag at the house for village visits (occasionally it is a cot in the clinic). Bring enough food for yourself for the trip, typically 2-4 days, but also a little extra in case you get weathered in. You might consider bringing fresh fruit or desserts for the clinic staff as a thank you gift since it is hard to get in the villages. If you have the time, try to explore the town a bit, including the grocery store, to get a sense of what it costs to eat well in a village. Dishes and sleeping bag are provided for your village visit. Please notify your clinical contact if it is missing so she can buy you another one.

Medevacs

You will likely have the opportunity to go on medevacs while you are in Bethel. Lifemed is the company that manages the medevacs from the villages into Bethel. The process to ride along is a bit convoluted, but here are the steps: When you arrive (or by email prior to arrival) Diane will give you the Lifemed Observer form. Link here

1. Fill out the form, but leave the date blank.

2. Fax the completed form (minus date) to the medevac house, 5 to dial out then 907-543-1262. Also, keep a copy with you in case it needs to be re-faxed since you are here for 6 to 8 weeks at a time.

3. On the day you want to ride along call the Lifemed house in Bethel 543-5036. They will confirm they have received your Observer form If no one else has requested to ride along they will take your phone number. Give them your resident work cell number to call or another line you are using in Bethel. Confirm the hours that you want them to call you before hanging up.

The medevac team will call you when they get a call and you have 15-20 minutes to make it to the hangar. You must be ready to get in a cab and go the first time to the hangar without going home for rain gear or other gear. After you know where it is, you can drive out there and leave your truck there during the medevac. They will not wait if you are not there when they are ready for takeoff since by definition, the patient waiting is in an emergency situation. If you are in the ED this process is much easier and you may get a ride from one of the techs.

The most important tip is to come prepared. You may be riding in a boat, snow machine or ATV from the village airport to the clinic. You may also have to spend lots of time outside and so if it is cold, bring the gear. A headlamp is helpful.

Medevacs are an amazing way to see the village clinics, meet the health aides and get a feel for what emergency services look like in bush Alaska. Just remember that when you go, you are observing, not providing or suggesting medical care. If you show up prepared, ask questions and offer to carry some gear, they will likely keep calling you.

Around Town

Grocery Stores

AC Value Center: Largest grocery store. Watch for sales in the Delta Discovery newspaper. They sell snow machines in the back and clothing upstairs!

Sammy’s Market:

Quick Food Center I & II (“The Q”): – expensive convenience-type store on the highway near Blueberry subdivision with soft serve ice cream

Meyers Farm: in Tundra Ridge. Tim sells locally grown produce as well as imported organic produce. Open Wednesdays 1-6 and Saturdays 9-1. It is a busy spot, so get there early if you want the best selection. It’s a $7 cab fare each direction and unless you have a phone who knows how you’ll get back.

There are several “Quick stop” type stores including Sammy’s market and the Swansons Quick stop. Corinas is down by the small boat harbor and carries case lot/costco size products.

Shopping

Art store at the Cultural Center: all handmade art, including carvings, photographs and ceramics.

Lucy’s Cache: Out at the airport, above the Yute terminal. Has Native jewelry, cards and gifts. Also has fur sewing supplies, just in case you need that, too.

Raven Fabrics: lots of fabric choices along with some basic sewing supplies. Used to offer classes, but have been short staffed recently.

Other Places

Banks: There is a Wells Fargo Bank in the building with Video World next to the AC grocery store and an Alaska USA in the AC store. There is an Alaska USA ATM in the entrance to the hospital. There is also a First National Bank of Alaska on the riverfront.

Post office: on the highway, past YKHC. Can access PO boxes from 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. M-F, though the pick up desk closes at 5:30 p.m. Can usually access boxes 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Saturday, and pick up packages, but this is not always the case.

Things to Do:

Cultural Center: large, multipurpose building housing the library, meeting rooms and gift shop. This is where the Saturday Market and the majority of events are held. Also houses the Yup’ik Museum.

Saturday Market: Located at the Cultural Center, monthly. There are lots of Native crafts and it is typically the place to be on those days. There is a schedule posted at the Cultural Center on the bulletin board.

YKHC Employee Wellness Center: a small gym located in the YKHC admin building, across from the hospital. You sign up for it at HR, also in the admin building, on the second floor. $25/month.

Yukon-Kuskokwim Fitness Center: New pool and fitness center. Offers classes and open gym access. Open Tuesday to Sundays. Fees range from $8 per visit to $85 monthly. There is also a Flex and Fit package that allows 10 class sessions in 8 weeks. You will have to ask about this as they don’t volunteer the info. Classes currently include Zumba, Spin, Cardio, Water polo but cost extra.

Library: inside the Cultural Center. You can get a library card and they have a small collection of books, movies, and a very good collection of books on Alaska. There is a small group of women who knit on Saturdays starting at around 1 p.m. in the “Alaska” room. A book club meets on Thursday evenings at 6. Story Hour – Wed from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. @ Kuskokwim Consortium Library (great computer for kids, children’s videos and books).

UAF Kuskokwim Campus: the majority of the regular classes are very expensive but they also offer a lot of short term classes through their cooperative extension program such as Judo, step aerobics, fur mitten sewing, pickling and guitar lessons. http://www.bethel.uaf.edu/

Chester’s Dance Studio: Chester trains many of the heath aides, but he is also an amazing dance instructor. He offers tango, salsa, swing and cha cha classes. His studio is at 199 Alex Hately or at the Elder’s home. His number if 545-4699, which you can call for an updated schedule. He donates the proceeds to the Tundra Women’s Coalition.

Movie Theater: Across from hospital. 1-2 rotating new-ish movies.

VFW Post: right down the street from the house on Akiak. There is Bingo here Monday to Saturday evenings, as well as NRA funded steak dinners. Lion’s Club building: Across the street from the Cultural Center. Lots of events held here from Bethel Friends of Canines pancake breakfasts to rummage sales benefitting the Winter Home.

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge: Interesting displays of stuffed wildlife in the area with info about the animals and refuge. Good place to get info on bird watching, berry picking, fishing, etc. Movies on Saturday. Owl Park: (heading out to Tundra ridge on the left) Newest playground, lots of big, yellow plastic slides and swings.

Children’s Play Group: Tuesday from 11-12 p.m. @ Seventh Day Adventist Church. Call for directions and info, 543-1747. They appreciate if you donate 1 or 2 dollars to help fund toys for the play group. Parent run and supported play group.

Video Rentals: Library for free. Video World, next to AC, for one night rentals with a good selection of movies. There is no rhyme or reason to how they file their videos so expect to spend a long time finding a specific video. AC also rents for the same cost as Video World. AC has a 3 non-new release movies for 3 days for 3 dollars on Tuesday(?). Also the new videos show up on Tuesday. Otherwise it is $3/night. We have an account at Video World under the peds resident phone number and name Robin Holmes. They may call the peds resident to verify that you can rent. Please do not accrue fees on this account because Robin will be charged.

Walks: In the summertime, up the road from Larson subdivision, there is a path that goes out on the right side behind a gate that says no trespassing. WE take that to mean motorized vehicles, not us… Also, part way to Kasayuli Subdivision there is a path on the left after the big curve around to the right that has a nice path that goes out to the airport. Both are good for cranberries and blueberries as well as beautiful views.

You can also walk down by the river…reached by walking across the street from the hospital and behind the admin building along a dirt road and turning left when you get to the river…Or ask someone where Pinky’s park is in City sub for some boardwalks across the tundra but within the circle of town.

In the wintertime, be very cautious about skiing or hiking on the trails. Snow machines travel very fast and their ability to see you can be very limited, esp. in the long hours of darkness. One of the docs here got run over by a sno-go and ended up with a compound tib/fib fx. Beware!

Events

Cama-i Dance Festival: in mid April. This is a huge festival with lots of dancing, food and vendors.

Breakup: the day the Kuskokwim River ice breaks up and starts flowing. There is a Winter Classic, which means you enter a guess for the date and time the ice will break and the winner takes home a ton of money. On the day of breakup there is also free food and live music down by the river.

Kuskokwim 300: the big sled dog race in the Delta, in January. Starts and ends on the river. They are always looking for volunteers to help the mushers and run headquarters. There are events throughout the week, including an awards banquet at the end.

Smelting: A couple weeks after breakup usually in May, the smelt run comes for a couple days with Salmon soon to follow. The boardwalk fills with people and nets to catch the small fish, then the fish fries are on.

Restaurants

Chopstix: Sushi, Chinese, burgers. Used to be called VIP and has changed locations at least twice in the past two years. Current location as of 3/2015 Go right on Akiak, Go left on Chief Eddie Hoffman. At the stop sign at the Y, Stay right on Chief Eddie Hoffman (not straight for Ridgecrest). You will see it straight ahead just before the road curves to the right to the small boat harbor. Seems to be the favorite recruiting dinner site for the hospital staff. But, sushi is not terrible and they deliver.

Bethel Pho-Thai: Relatively new thai and vietnamese cuisine. Next to the subway and Alba’s coffee, across from the AC.

Connies: Standard Bethel asian fare. There is a secret curry not listed on the menu.

Mud Hut: on the highway between the hospital and the post office. Burgers, fries, daily specials. They also have a new drive through espresso window, the first drive through in town

Dimitris: on 4th Ave., near the AC. They offer typical Bethel food such as pizza and burgers, but also offer gyros, chicken lemon rice soup and a few other unique options.

Alba’s: coffee shop in the same plaza as the Subway and PhoThai across from the AC.

Subway: the only chain restaurant in Bethel. Pricier than its lower 48 sister stores, but with basically the same offerings. Across from the AC.

Ptarmigan Restaurant: in Tundra Ridge. They attempt Mexican food but also have the typical Bethel choices of burgers and pizza.

Brother’s Pizza: in Yute terminal at the airport.

Fili’s Pizza: Right on Akiak then left on Mission (6th) to the end of the road (on your left). They use gluten free crust and use fresh veggie’s from Meyer’s farm in Bethel.

Coffee Shop: At the upstairs area of the Grant Aviation building if you need a fix of your favorite hot coffee drink. They also have some pastries and baked bread there as well. They also make pretty good sandwiches. Wi-fi available there.

Coffee at the YK “giftshop”: This is a coffee stand that also sells float coats at the YKHC Admin bldg.

There are others and menus are floating around the hospital. Everywhere serves a multiethnic menu, usually Chinese and American with a third option that is variable.

Before You Leave

• Wash your bed sheets and towels.
• Clean the house.
• Fill the truck with gas and oil if it needs it.
• Be sure your Cerner (computer record) inbox is empty
• Put in a forwarding address for your mail back to Anchorage.
• Return your ID badge and computer to Diane
• Return any scrubs you borrowed
• Contact the next resident and let them know where you will leave the keys to the apt and the vehicle.