Tongass Family Edwards: The Edwards Family heads to Kake

"away we go!"

Part of my job includes being the “referral physician” for the village of Kake. Kake is a town of about 500 people in Southeast Alaska. It’s located 50 miles (as the raven flies) from Sitka. I work with a great team of two Community Health Aides and a Physician Assistant who manage the day to day care of the patients in Kake. My job is to provide backup, support, hospital care, and phone consultation to them. Additionally, every year I do six one week clinics in Kake. Brent’s come along with before. But this was Phinny’s first trip to Kake.

Phin hangin' on the ferry

Brent, the dogs, the boy, and I all loaded up on the ferry, and enjoyed our 8 hour boat ride to Kake. We love traveling on the ferry. The pace is slow, the wildlife viewing is abundant, and there’s a sense of adventure to rolling out your sleeping bag on the deck of the solarium and snuggling in for the night with the fresh ocean air all around. Phin seemed to take well to ferry travel, and slept more than either of his parents.

My week in Kake was busy as usual. I even agreed to do a Sunday afternoon clinic to accommodate the large volume of patients who wanted to be seen while I was there. There happened to be a funeral in the village that week. Out of respect for the deceased and his family, we closed the clinic during the funeral, and were present for all of the funeral activities.

Interestingly, the man who passed away was a former fire chief of the village. He died while hospitalized in Seattle, and his body was returned home to Kake on the same ferry we were on. Some of the family members were escorting the body. When the ferry arrived in Kake, the ferry crew of accommodated a truly Alaskan funeral procession. The procession was lead by the big green Kake firetruck (which had been taken to Juneau via ferry to meet the body) followed by the pick- up truck carrying the casket, then the family members walked off the ferry together. After the family walked off the ferry the crew waited a minute and then started their regular unloading process. On shore the procession from the ferry was greeted by the entire village. Tribal leaders were dressed in traditional regalia. There was drumming and singing. After the greeting at the ferry all the mourners loaded into cars for a funeral procession lead by a village police officer patrol car with sirens on. The car procession wound through the village streets ending at the widow’s home. It was impressive to witness the amazing outpouring of support for this family from the community and the unique Alaskan way that the procession progressed. Likewise, the memorial service, the funeral, and the funeral dinner were all crowded events with plenty of stories being told.

This is the second funeral I’ve been to in Kake. It’s hard not to sense that the town is aging. Many young people have moved away because of lack of work. The timber industry has closed down, few residents can afford to run their commercial fishing boats, the cannery and cold storage facilities have closed, downtown businesses are non-existent, and the one restaurant is closing down this week because the owner is moving to Juneau. As the referral physician, I see a select portion of town- mainly people struggling with chronic disease. In other words I take care of a lot of the aging and infirm population. This provides for a week of work that is not balanced with well child checks and prenatal visits. So, the weeks that I’m in Kake- attending funerals, and seeing oodles of chronic disease- get me feeling a little weary.

It was wonderful to have Brent and Phinny around. I wish I could have had more time with them, and I think they wish the same. Brent was as serious as ever about his berry picking duties. He brought home 3 gallons of blueberries, and even some huckleberries. Phineas turns out to not be the most helpful berry picking assistant – Brent reports that he whines a lot. We are fortunate to already have fresh blueberry jam stocked in the cupboard! They also picked “beach asparagus” and “goosetongue” which are seaweed or beach vegetation that grow in the intertidal zone. These are savory, salty, delicious treats that we’re delighted to now include in our summertime diet and subsistence routine.

berry picking next to the clinic

Before catching the ferry home at 6 AM we watched as four black bears looked for chum salmon in Big Gunnuk creek which runs through the town of Kake. It was some of the only time I had to just sit and watch wildlife but it was certainly high yield. Brent also saw several black bear when he was driving around with Phin, he even watched one berry picking from the same bushes he picked from. Brent’s wildlife highlight though was watching a whale breach from the kitchen window of the place we were staying. I hope this makes up for the many trips to come where Brent and Phin will see little more than rain from that window.

On the way home, we traveled through Juneau. We did our obligatory Juneau shopping at Cost-co, and met up with friends for a drink in the evening. The weather was a little too snotty, and all of us too tired for hiking and exploring adventures. Maybe next time.

Stay tuned to the Tongass Family Edwards Blog for stories and photos of The Main Family Trip to Sitka…

Extra pics follow.