Anderson University

After a long day of travel, we made it to Alaska! The mountains surrounding Anchorage were a beautiful sight to see coming out of the airport. After a quick bite at a taco bell, we got settled in at our lodging - a church called Jewel Lake on the eastern side of the city. We are looking forward to our week!

Sunday morning we stood outside the church taking in the view, enjoying the sun and soaking up the chill air.

Sunday's church service at Jewel Lake Church of the Nazareen was fun. Pastor MJ told the story of David and isolated moments in his life where he had to trust God. MJ's perspective as well as humorous story-telling drew everyone into the message. It was also touching to see the whole congregation come together to pray over a woman with serious kidney complications. It seemed like the church is a very tight-knit and friendly group.

We loved on the folks at the Dream Center for an afternoon by helping in any way we could be of service. One of the main tasks we did was to thoroughly clean the coffee shop. Lots of dust, dirt, and other unpleasant buildup needed to be cleaned.

On our way back to Anchorage, we made a little pit stop. We were able to arrange a private dog sledding excursion! Justin and his wife, Rebecca, own over 180 dogs that all very obviously love them and were so eager to run!

 Four teams went out at once, each sled carrying 3 people - two of our team and a musher to guide us in steering. We looped all around the trails on their property. It was absolutely amazing!!!

Tuesday morning we were needed in two places. We spent part of our morning at the Alaska Health Fair offices assisting with blood draws and blood pressure. The ladies who work there, Betty and Jodi, were excited to have our group. We then left a few members of our team to help out with various tasks in the offices and warehouse. The rest of us hopped over to a local food pantry to set up shop there.

After our work at New Hope wrapped up, we headed across town to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Their normal programming and performances they do during the summer are not running now, but the artifacts are still up on the walls like a mini museum. The bead work and clothing we saw was exquisite. 

On the North side of Anchorage, there is a home called Clare House that houses single mothers and their children so they can stay together. Each mother is assigned to a case worker who helps them look at and apply for jobs. We set up our booth in their main lobby.

We educated a handful of mothers to the negative effects of smoking as well as other topics. The kids were particularly interested in the fun things we brought for them, including the fake fruits and veggies. Nutrition station for the win!

The glitter bug was a big hit with the kids. They rubbed the special serum on their hands and held them under a  blacklight to see the "germs". Then after washing them, they take a second look at how well they did.

Several residents were interested in having their blood pressure read and figuring out their weight, height and BMI.

After Clare House, we headed over to a soup kitchen called Beans Café. We immediately jumped in the serving line to start making up trays and passing out lunches. Many clients came up to the window with friendly remarks to make us laugh or smile. 

After serving lunch, we started doing prepwork for future meals. We shredded cheese blocks by the crateful, as well as carrots and piles of onions! We had to keep our tears in check.

Thursday morning, we set up our display and began to check height, blood pressures and weight. We also educated people on diet and so on. Several members at Karluk Manor, a low income housing facility, were in need of further assessment as well.

We toured a shelter called Brother Francis. It is a well known facility in Anchorage that opens its doors to anyone in need. In recent years they opened a respite home section of the shelter for people coming out of the hospital to have a peaceful place to heal in privacy.

They also opened up a small clinic in the shelter. We visited the ladies there as they told us more about the important role the shelter and their clinic has played in the homeless community. They plan to expand!

We walked across the parking lot of Brother Francis Shelter to the familiar food pantry, Beans. We're starting to feel at home there. A few of us right away assisted with shaving the head of a client who had been treated for bed bugs earlier in the day. It was a highlight experience for us!

Next we jumped back into the kitchen, once again helping with various tasks, including mixing together a salad with the ingredients we chopped up the day before.

For dinner, we went to a local hotspot, Arctic Roadrunner. It's a restaurant that has been around for years and serves a variety of burgers, including halibut and salmon burgers.

Saturday afternoon, we got to go on a Helicopter tour of Knik Glacier. The pilot flew us out to the glacier, landed and let us explore. It was incredibly beautiful!!!

In the next town over, Palmer, there is a small mountain called the Butte. A member of the church and his family accompanied us there and led our team to the top. The view was stunning, with the mountains all around and the glacier we actually visited this weekend being visible off in the distance.

Not a bad "band" photo from the top of the Butte! We had a lot of fun up there enjoying the view and snapping pictures to show back home.

A note from the PPM staff: 

Thank you, Anderson University nursing students and Denna for a wonderful week! You all were an absolute joy for everyone who interacted with you. You are each a blessing to be treasured. 

It was hard to drop you off at the airport as you fly home this morning. Thank you all for your service here in Alaska, and most of all for the spirit in which you served. It is so evident that each of you will be a fine nurse, and God will use your giftedness and heart for others to show His love through you to your future patients. Never forget what you learned here, and please do return someday!

~mel