Bethel Health Issues

Well, so far we've mostly raved about the positive aspects of Bethel, so we figured we would share a few of the more challenging issues. As you may know, Bethel is a damp town. That means it is illegal to buy, make, or sell alcohol. You can bring it in and unfortunately a lot of people have access to it. There is also a problem with inhaling substances such as Lysol or Listerine. This is called huffing and there is actually one of only 2 inhalant abuse centers in the United States located here. When you go to the grocery store, all of the abused items are located behind the counter. This includes Lysol, mouthwash, vanilla, cough syrup, cooking wine, and probably a few other things I haven't noticed. We saw these lysol cans and empy vodka bottles at a little encampment in the bushes by the river. Other problems include a very high rate of diabetes and tooth decay due to the high sugar diet. Staples, such as eskimo ice cream (agutak) used to be made with seal oil and berries, and are now made with Crisco, berries and sugar. When I go to the villages, it is common to see babies drinking Coke in their bottles or sucking constantly on lollipops. Combined with difficulties with access to dental care, most people are missing a fair amount of teeth. Some little kids I see in the villages start losing their teeth at about age 3. One final negative attributed to the high sugar intake (combined with steam bath togetherness) is a high rate of boils. This one, especially, strikes fear in Dawson's heart (as an official boil survivor).