Martha Flores
Caring
for Her People
Three
generation of Martha Flores' family, Yupik/Aleut, have
cared for their people in a remote area of Alaska. Flores
has been a PA for 15 years in Bethel, Alaska. Martha's
mother was a medical aide and Martha's daughter,
Teresa, is also a
PA.
Born and raised in Mountain Village, Flores has been
providing care at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional
Hospital since 1991.
The hospital serves 56 villages in the Delta, including
Mountain Village. During her first 13 years at the
hospital, Flores worked in the outpatient clinic as the
primary health care provider for many people. Although
Flores has been working in the emergency department for
the past three years, some of her former patients, still
regard her as their primary provider. “They call me ‘the
doctor’ or ‘our Native doctor’,” says Flores. “I tell
them that I’m not a doctor, but they disregard that.
They know that I’m not a doctor of medicine, but I think
that in their eyes, I am their doctor.”
“I get tickled by the Elders. As soon as they see me they
get a big smile on their face and start talking in their
language, Yupik. I grew up speaking English. I heard Yupik
around me but it was the Yukon dialect, not the Kuskokwim
dialect. My mother is an Aleut from Kodiak. My dad is full
Yupik. My mother only spoke English to us, because she was
still learning the Yupik language. My father spoke both
English and Yupik, but he mostly spoke English at home.
“Thanks to my patients, I’ve learned to speak Yupik better.
They’ve patiently corrected me. I can understand what
they’re telling me, but I can’t carry on a conversation
with them entirely in Yupik. I always use a translator
because I want to make sure that they know exactly what’s
going on with their bodies and what the medicines I give
them are for and what the medicines will do. I want to be
sure that the patient gets the best care.
“I can imagine what many people go through when they come
in to the hospital from their villages. In the villages,
everyone speaks their language and eats their native food.
When they come into Bethel, many of them are timid and
nervous. They don’t always understand what people tell
them. I get discouraged when I ask them what a provider
told them and they say, ‘I don’t know.’ So I use a
translator to make sure that they understand me.”
A
Family Working Together
Flores
remembers her childhood, “My mom, who was a medical aide,
had the coolest job. Her work was mysterious. She’d be
called out. All that she would say was that she had to go
and help a sick person.”
After graduating from high school, Flores left her village
to go to nursing school. She didn’t complete her training,
though, because she fell in love, got married and began
raising a family.
Ten years later, she landed a job as a community health
aide in Mountain Village. For four years she worked as a
health aide, but she was restless. “I always knew that I
could offer my people more than I was offering at the time.
I also knew that in order to better provide for my children
I would have to attain further education.”
Community health aides, like Flores, receive basic health
aide training through the Community Health Aides Program
(CHAP)
program that is conducted by physician
assistants (PAs) and
nurse practitioners. Flores was impressed with the PAs.
One of them, David Norcross, a Native PA, told her that
she was “PA material”.
Convinced that she wanted to become a PA, Flores applied to
and was accepted by the MEDEX Northwest PA
Program. She
traveled by herself to Seattle location of the program.
Six weeks later she was joined by her husband and four
children, ranging in age from 18 months to 14 years. The
year in Seattle was challenging, especially because of
her time away from her family, but Flores remembers, “I
had decided that this was what I wanted. Nothing was
going to turn me back. Besides, my husband was there to
support me through the training.”
When it came time for Flores to do her clinical rotations,
the family drove their truck back up to Alaska. Most of her
rotations were to be in Bethel, so the family decided to
make Bethel their homing ground. When she graduated from PA
School, Flores accepted a job at the hospital in Bethel
where she still is happily working.
Listen to Advice
Flores tells
potential PAs: “Don’t lose sight of your goals. Strive to
do the best you can in your school years. Take the time to
relax and look at your goals from all perspective. Be open
to suggestions. People like to give advice. Listen to the
advice. You don’t have to use all the advice that you’re
given but take what you can use. Read as much as you can.
If you’re not sure of the meaning of a word or concept,
take the time to look them up.”
This
article was originally printed in the Winter 2007 issue
of
Winds of Change.