In the 1980s, I worked in Anchorage, Alaska, as an ICU nurse at the Alaska Native Medical Center (part of the Indian Health Service) and was so impressed to find there was an office of the Centers For Disease Control on our campus. We were part of an elite group of folks bringing state-of-the-art medical care to our patients in the Alaskan Bush.

Hospitals from the lower 48 sent their ENT specialists to us to study conditions in order to expand their skills back home. Our medical center specialized in treating and saving the lives of traditional Eskimos who loved to eat beaver tails that they stored in Ziplock bags behind their stoves to ferment the taste -- despite the fact that this produced a deadly form of botulism that put them on ventilators. And then there were the occasional fishermen who chose to spray Cutter's mosquito repellent in a cup to drink, or used the computer alcohol they found in 50 gallon drums that fell off ships, on the beach, to make "home brew," killing or blinding them. I met my husband in a hyperbaric chamber; saved only because our ICU doctor was trained in hyperbaric Medicine -- thanks to the NIH.

Can we count on RFK Jr. to support such medical intervention and study? The CDC has already been compromised. Vaccines, the sharing of knowledge and expertise helps us protect our patients, community and loved ones.

Lara Pertel-Ashouwak, RN

LCDR U.S. Public Health Service (Ret.)

Bowdoinham

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