Dream Job: This is a job working on a remote island in Alaska. Could it be yours?
The Job: Inpatient physical therapist at Ketchikan General Hospital (KGH), an acute and long-term care facility located in Alaska's Ketchikan, a small city on Revillagigedo Island.
Why this is a dream job: Ketchikan is located in Southeast Alaska, about 680 miles north of Seattle. The population is just 14,000, although it draws from a wider area with a population of 30,000. Accessible by plane or boat, this area truly enables therapists to "get away from it all."
As part of Peace Health, a 125-year-old Catholic organization dedicated to exceptional medicine, compassionate care, and social justice, KGH strives to give access to health care to all in the community. The hospital offers its employees a great benefits package that includes loan repayments, relocation aid, sign-on fees, hospital-based childcare, and retirement with no vesting period.
Types of patients and injuries you
would work with: As the primary hospital for a number of small islands in the area, therapists at KGH treat the population for a wide gamut of conditions ranging from orthopedic to neurological conditions, with service from acute care to skilled nursing rehab. Boating and logging injuries are common.
Word on the street - what your colleague has to say about this employer: "I love working here because we truly do work with the patients, and for the patients. We have the time we need to achieve our goals, and our patients don't get flip-flopped to other staff," says Betty Schill, PT.
What you could do for fun if you lived here: Ketchikan is an outdoor paradise, with hiking, sea kayaking, and deep-sea fishing available just minutes from the hospital. The island also is home to a rich variety of wildlife, including black bears, bald eagles, mink, marten, and during seasonal migration, orca and humpback whales. Native Alaskan arts and culture, basketry, beadwork, totem pole creation, and native dance thrive there.
What you would be paid: $82,000 per year.
Interested? Contact:
Jessica Clark, PHR, Ketchikan General Hospital
Tel: 907-228-8300, ext. 1-7887 or
E-mail: jclark2@peacehealth.org
