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Alaska Blog III- Mental Health Treatment in Remote Alaska (1 comment)
Posted by: Michael LeavittFriday, August 1st, 2008
Imagine you are a woman with two small children living in a remote Alaskan village of 300 people. Winters are harsh, long and dark. You love your husband, but he is often abusive physically and psychologically.
The combination of hardships and some personal tendencies have caused you to turn to alcohol. You are beginning to suffer bouts of depression. Talking with others about the feelings of suicide has become frequent in your head, but you dare not say anything to those around you. Where do you turn? Getting to a doctor requires an hour by plane or eight hours by ferry.
While I was in Juneau, Alaska this week, I took a short walk from the offices of Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) to a small mental health annex for a private conversation with a patient whose personal circumstances were not identical to what I just posed, but close enough. We talked alone for 20 minutes. She was candid about her situation, and I will honor her privacy by not changing the facts and not mentioning anything about where she lives.
Our conversation took place over a new videoconferencing system that is being extended into villages across Alaska. I have used videoconferencing equipment many times before. This was arranged in a way that made the interaction seem quite natural. The video was close up and we could see one another’s eyes and facial expressions. I finished the encounter feeling like I knew her personally. Granted, it is less than ideal but it is a huge step forward.
SEARHC behavioral health providers Rand West, Clinic II Director, and Carolyn Lemmon, Acting Director of Community Family Services Program, talk with Secretary Leavitt over a videoconferencing system.
This patient told me one thing that I think is particularly significant. She said, “In a small village like where I live, it is impossible to talk with anybody without others knowing your problems. Being able to do that this way, gives me the comfort I need to feel safe.”
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First- a comment on this blog. Is it necessary for mental health facilities in a small community? I always thought of mental health facilities as being necessary in a city where emotional networks were..nt. The woman mentioned above surely has relatives nearby in a remote villiage of 300. Perhaps a ‘community center’ would be more appropriate so that she could work on her network! Ok and about the contraception thing. I’ll bet 80% of avid anti-abortionists in America use some form of birth control. If there was a serious chance of a threat to ‘birth control’, I think the drug companies who provide them will squelch that real quick.
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