Rural Roads

Cover story
On a mission:
Pharmacists serve remote island
By Lindsey V. Corey
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Bill and Sarah Altland opened Prince of Wales Island’s first pharmacy in 2001. Photos by Alison Quigley.

   Bill and Sarah Altland are always on a mission, and often on the go.
From Arkansas to Zaire, the pharmacists have spent their 30-year marriage serving the underserved in remote areas.
   Their focus was on helping others. There was always food on the table, but income was an afterthought.
   A volunteer opportunity at a mission clinic brought them to rural Alaska a decade ago. For a year, Sarah served as an unpaid pharmacist in Glenallen, while Bill relieved pharmacists across Alaska.
   “We’re both from small towns in Arkansas, and we knew we liked Alaska so I filled in at about 20 places around the state to make grocery money and to find a job,” he says. “I can’t describe it; I just had a good feeling about this place.”
   Soon the couple was headed for an even more remote assignment on the country’s third largest island. Bill and Sarah shared the sole pharmacist position at an Alaskan Native clinic, one of two clinics on Prince of Wales (POW) Island.

[Full Story]

Spring 2010

Contents

On a mission:
Pharmacists serve remote island

Wellness is contagious
at rural Texas hospitals

Veterans' mental health care hits closer to

Promoting prevention:
HPV programs increase awareness

Policymakers gain firsthand knowledge
of rural Midwestern hospitals

Beginnings
Influential experience

Passages
Meaningful work

Side Trip
Five things about NRHA member Janelle Ali-Dinar

Members on the move
Former NRHA president joins HRSA staff

News briefs

Archived issues of Rural Roads

Rural Roads is a quarterly publication of the National Rural Health Association, a non-profit association with 20,000 members who share a common interest in the advancement of rural health. Domestic Rural Roads subscriptions are $20 per year. To subscribe, e-mail or send a check to Rural Roads editor, NRHA, 521 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Mo. 64110. For information on advertising in NRHA publications, e-mail or call 913-269-1199.