Arctic Care Arrives at Russian Mission

On a warm afternoon of March 10th as I was getting Nicholas ready for our walk to the clinic I heard something very unusual, the sound of choppers. Puzzled I looked outside my living room window to see two military helicopters circling the village. Not knowing what was going on I called Jim. "It is the Arctic Care," he replied. As we talked I noticed something very alarming. One of the helicopters was descending right between the clinic and post office! "Oh My God! What are they doing!" Images of broken power lines tangling the people inside filled my mind such that I could not talk for a few seconds. I could not understand why they would land there when we have a big airfield with plenty of room on the apron. I watched as the second helicopter tried to find a landing spot within the village, hovering over various places before returning back to the area of the first helicopter. The one that landed eventually took off and they parked on the apron of the airport. What an adventurous and unexpected entrance! This is one day I will not soon forget. Later when talking to my daughters and niece about our exciting afternoon I heard that there were some other more dramatic conclusions to seeing the copters hover over the village. Apparently one of the young girls on the road next to my grandpa's house where they were exclaimed, "They are going to kill us! Its the end of the world!" These do make very good conversations. There is now personnel here to help see to the health of our people until the 18th, a dentist, a physical therapist, an optometrist, an audiologist, and two main doctors. We are blessed.