Inside the Arctic Circle

Jason Matyascik, DO: How I practice at the edge of civilization

Practicing medicine in the nation’s northernmost city has its challenges and perks. Get a glimpse into the life of one DO who answered the call of the wild.

Rose Raymond
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Two years ago, a quest for adventure led emergency physician Jason Matyascik, DO, to a position in Barrow, Alaska. At the top of the state, Barrow is the country’s northernmost city. It has roughly 4,400 residents and gravel roads because the harsh weather would damage asphalt. Much of the year, Barrow is landlocked and the only option for entering or exiting the city is by plane.

In this edited interview, Dr. Matyascik talks about working at Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital, the primary medical facility for the North Slope region.

What’s an average day like for you?

Some days, I’ll see close to 30 patients in a shift, and I won’t lose a bead of sweat over any of them. Other days, I might only have two patients, but they’ll both be flown in from nearby villages.

Our hospital is a critical access hospital. When we get a patient who’s in critical condition, everything comes to a screeching halt, and we use all of our resources to take care of that patient.

Some days, I do a lot of telemedicine. In addition to Barrow, the hospital covers five villages in the area that are only accessible to our hospital by air. I spend a lot of time speaking with staff at the village clinics about their patients. I often have to decide if a patient can be treated in the village or if he or she needs to be flown here or to a bigger hospital.

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What is your patient population like? What are the common illnesses and injuries you see up there?

The population of Barrow is about 60% native Alaskans. Most young people speak English, but many seniors only speak Inupiaq, so I use a translator when I treat them.

Subsistence hunting is huge here because it’s expensive to have meat shipped in. The locals eat a lot of meat from marine mammals such as whales, seals and walruses. It’s also quite dry here. The local diet and dehydration produce some of the worst cases of constipation I’ve ever seen. Patients come in with terrible belly pains. After treating them, I tell them to drink more water.

Children of all ages drive all-terrain vehicles here. They rarely wear helmets, so I see a lot of trauma from accidents. I also see a lot of mountain bike wrecks, especially in the summer when it’s daylight all the time. I’ll get kids coming in at 2 a.m.

What’s the most challenging thing about practicing in Barrow?

The greatest challenge is working with the limited resources we have here. We don’t have a surgeon, an anesthesiologist or an operating room.

Equipment failures can be a problem. I once had a ventilator that wouldn’t work, and I had to have one of the hospital staff hand-ventilate the patient for five hours until we could get a plane over that had a vent inside.

What’s the best thing?

I have more freedom to practice medicine as I want. I’m the admitting physician here. If I want to admit a patient, I just do it. I don’t have to explain to anyone how the patient meets admissions criteria and how the hospital will be paid for the stay.

There’s also a real sense of community here. People look out for one another. One time, the police called me because they saw one of my patients at a party. “Doesn’t he need to have his stitches taken out?” they asked. They picked him up and brought him over. After I removed the stitches, they took him back to the party.

Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital in Barrow, Alaska

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10 comments

  1. Dan Forman

    Great article. I once practiced in a rural hospital, but in PA, No comparison. After my kids are out of college I would love to practice in an area like that. Thanks for this contribution.

    Reply

  2. Ross Knowles

    I had the opportunity to rotate in Dillingham as a 4th medical student. It was my best rotation of the year. The spectrum of patients was huge. It was incredible to see primary care docs practing to the extent of their training.

    Reply

  3. Robert Kapanjie D. O. F A C O I , ret

    If you would like some historical perspective on the great north and the efforts to reach the North Pole and beyond I highly recommend Hampton Sides’ new non-fiction book In the Kingdom of Ice; The grand and terrible polar voyage of the USS Jeannette. There is some commentary on Alaska but mostly on Siberia, ,the East Siberian Sea,the Laptev Sea, islands in the vicinity, Lena Delta, etc. It is a fascinating read.

    Reply

  4. Royce Keilers, DO

    My wife Elva and daughter Dawn and I, along with Jordan Greer, DO and his wife Sallie, were hosted by the Rev Avakana in Barrow in early 1990’s. He had extended the invitation after discovering on an earlier trip that Jordan and I were not rum runners! We slept on beach, accompanied Rev., son and grandson on seal and walrus hunt. A lifetime experience. Wonder if son and grandson are still there. We loved the people of Barrow.

    Reply

  5. Abra Robbins

    That’s where my husband is from, we lived there for two years and I plan to go back once I graduate and we plan on staying there. I didn’t realize we had a DO in the hospital!

    Reply

  6. Steve Gordon

    I worked at SSMH 8 weeks summer 2010 and 6 weeks winter of 2011.

    I was shocked at the Hep C, vitamin D deficiency, the world’s worst eczema, and terrible rate of Rheumatoid arthritis.

    Winter 2015 found me in Nome, and I got to go out to Brevig Mission, one of the 17 outlying villages. And I had a really, really good time. I made house calls on foot, at 20 below, glad I had arctic grade clothing.

    Check my blog: walkaboutdoc.wordpress.com

    Reply

  7. Thomas McWilliams, D.O.

    AK is a great place to live and provide care. You never get it out of your blood. “Bush medicine” is particularly rewarding. We still have our place about 25 mi. from False Pass but most of our visits are to “Los Anchorage” where our oldest son is in practice with the Southcentral Foundation and doing a much better job than I did in the 70s and 80s. Good on you!

    Reply

  9. Laurene Reed

    I’m a first-year med student with a husband and two daughters, and we hope to settle somewhere very rural. The attributes you mentioned are exactly why I love the idea of being a family medicine physician in a small community, despite the hassles. Thank you for sharing. This article reminds me that the community feeling can be found in all places and climates.

    Reply

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