Neither Stephan or I ever thought that we would find ourselves working for a criminal when we searched for jobs in Alaska (who does!?). The person we were unfortunate enough to get involved with was no ordinary crook either, he was a mastermind, He was so good he talked himself all the way into the position of Alaskas Medical Director for a short period of time. Smooth talking, charismatic, and the leader of the boys club, he charmed many people, but when we met him in the summer of 2021, we just thought he was good at his job.

I’m not going to name any names, or implicate any organizations in this post. We enjoyed our time working in Alaska until this started to go awry and met many great healthcare workers who were also negatively affected by the events we experienced. Many of them remain afraid to speak up about what they endured to this day for fear of retaliation. I do not wish to cause them any further discomfort. Fortunately many people were able to speak up, and thanks to their persistence the story I’m about to tell you has now been made public and the individual who rose to a position of leadership through false claims has now been removed.

Covid was still a major topic in the news when we arrived in Alaska. I had hoped to find a hospital position as a travel nurse in Alaska, and made the mistake of waiting until we arrived to look for a job. (something i’ll never do again!) Surprisingly however, even with Covid numbers up, hospitals in Alaska stay pretty well staffed through the warm months. I later discovered this this is the time of year all the travelers flock to Alaska to work, so both jobs and pay packages are slim during that time of year. After almost a month, during which time we started to become more and more concerned about money, I called a number for a position I found through some google job search site for a Covid vaccination job and after a great interview both Stephan and I found ourselves with Covid related jobs!

As a nurse, I do have strong opinions about Covid and the way it was handled. If you’re interested in them, you’re welcome to email me and I’d be glad to share them. At the time we were there, Alaska was pushing for high vaccination rates, and struggling to reach them. The people in the remote areas of Alaska were even more wary of the vaccines than many whom I’d met in the lower 48, so the state government was pouring a lot of money into outreach and incentives. The job we ended up working in was a state funded vaccination clinic lead by the group that became one of the foremost covid resource providers in Alaska. Many groups vied to work in the area of Covid vaccination and testing at this time, but few came became as big as our this company did due to strong leadership and well executed planning. Many of the individuals who helped this group to succeed were fired or let go, once the leader achieved success.

The job seemed ideal at first, pay was great, and the job was fairly relaxed. Like I said a lot of Alaskans were not getting vaccinated, so there was a lot of downtime during which we got to talk to the other medical professionals on the job sites and hear about their stories and backgrounds. We heard rumors here and there about some oddities in the leadership, and that the head of the group overstated some of his qualifications, but every job has rumors, so we took note of what we heard, but received everything with a grain of salt. Little did we know, this rumors were just the very tip of a very large iceberg that was about to cause a lot of trouble.

A month or two in to the job, we had started to notice some things that made us uncomfortable. The staff was being shuffled around and suddenly a lot of the nurses i’d grown used to working with weren’t coming in for shifts. We also received messages in our work text thread telling us that the well planned way of doing things that we had grown accustomed to was being changed up. Change is fine, but these changes were neither necessary nor well executed and caused mass chaos at work as we tried to scramble to follow the half baked instructions wed been given. These changes, we were told, we’re because of “issues” in the current system, but really created more issues then they solved. When individuals in the text chain brought up questions or concerns, they were quickly shut down, and we learned that those who stood up about their concerns had been relieved of their positions.

I noticed that the leader in question constantly belittled the nurses. He would tell us “oh that’s not your concern”, or “don’t worry about it”. We were also informed via text that the RN position was going to be eliminated, because “anyone with training can draw up and give vaccines”, as a medical professional this really felt wrong, but I could not find any Alaskan medical legislation directly contradicting this in my limited searches, so I had little grounds to argue.

One day a mistake that did not result in patient harm, but was still notable happened on a day when I was working. It was a minor incident not directly related to me ,but as the nurse in charge that day, I was responsible for relaying it up the chain of command. I did so, and suddenly found myself pulled from work and sitting in front of a pocket recorder restating the incident, I was then told to go home for the day with promises that they would update me soon. They did not. This begin one of the worst months of my career where an individual in charge began to attempt to guilt me into a resignation, because they had no grounds to fire me, but were trying to eliminate nurses from their payroll, and I had added myself to the hit list by challenging their leadership.

I’ve always prided myself in being a good nurse, I really do care about my patients, I love taking the time to connect with them throughout the work day, and I want to provide the best care to them that I can. The idea of something going wrong at work and resulting in preventable harm has always caused my stomach to churn when I think of it. It causes me to double check things, and to always make sure what I do Is done correctly. I’m not a perfect nurse, but I do my best, and if I do make a mistake, I will own up to it. I have never felt as I did during the month between this incident and us finally deciding to leave the company. Even though I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong the accusations of incompetency and suspicion thrown at me bothered me majorly, and I actually became depressed, I questioned my place in the medical field and struggled to sleep as my brain refused to stop replaying the situation over and over, trying to find what had gone so wrong. Looking back at this now, I can finally laugh as I see how many of the threats and cruel words this leader hurled at me actually were reveled to be true about himself later on. I texted and called leadership and was again and again told they had some other commitment and would get back to me. Finally I removed myself from the company, and Stephan came with me, we had both had enough.

A few months later, I got a text from a former co-worker stating this leader was running for Alaskas Medical Director and that a forum was being held to address any questions or concerns. The text called my coworkers to action, and asked up to share or experiences, and the reasons why he was totally unfit for this position. I quickly typed up an email and sent it to the attached forum email, and got a quick reply that said “can I call you right now?” with a cell number attached. I agreed and found myself on the phone with a very concerned individual that shared with me many more concerns that had come up with this man, but that a lack of people who felt safe to speak up about their personal experiences would probably make their concerns fruitless. The call ended with me feeling very concerned for Alaska and hoping that the truth would come up. But it didn’t yet, and he succeeded in claiming the position much to many peoples dismay.

We left Alaska discouraged, and it wasn’t until we received an email almost a year later that we realized the full extent of what had been going on. The email that we got said in all caps “ALASKA MEDICAL DIRECTOR RESIGNS.” We opened it and were shocked to read how the man who had been in leadership over the organization had finally been found out fully, when a former nurse who worked alongside me who had carefully researched and kept notes, that implicated him in myriads of lies. He had called himself both a colonel of the military and a doctor, boasting about his many skills and experiences to anyone who would listen. But as we read on we found out that everything was falsified, the highest rank he had ever held was EMT, and the military unit be had bragged about was actually a volunteer group that guarded a bridge. Can anyone say stolen valor?

I immendiantly called the reporting agency that had done the interviews. They were interested in what I had to say and took down my information, but did say that they did not think there would be much press on the issues, because many of the sources they’d tried to contact were still wary of speaking up. I am glad the truth has come to light in this situation, but there is so much more to be uncovered. Looking back, my suspicious have been confirmed that this man hired his friends into position of power in the company that they were incompetent to hold. He also covered up valid concerns from staff, and fired many excellent healthcare workers to suit his own agenda. Some of the individuals he hired are still in jobs today because he placed him there. I wish there was more I could do to make a difference, but I also want to forget this time and just let it slip into the past as an unpleasant memory. It’s one that no longer gives me nightmares, but will always make me wary of smooth talkers in positions of leadership moving forward.

I tend to be fairly trusting of people, and am still amazed how this man worked his way up into such a position on so many lies. How did no one ever check his credentials ? How do you come out of something like this without spending the rest of your life in prison? If so many people are afraid to speak up for fear of retribution, shouldn’t that make someone out there even more interested in hearing what actually happened? Netflix, I think this would make a great documentary! There’s still more here to unravel, and maybe one day I’ll see “Colonel of Fake Military” come out as a series, but for now, I’m just very glad it’s in the past.