Wisconsin transplant moved here to ‘God's country'

Nov. 10, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - The idea of moving to Alaska in mid-winter might give some people pause, but for Dr. Cecilia Howell-Canada, it worked out well.

&#8220I would recommend it,” Howell-Canada said. &#8220I was coming from a cold place, so the transition wasn't that hard.”

Howell-Canada, a pediatrician, was living and working in Milwaukee, Wis., when she was recruited by Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

In September 2005, when Valley Hospital still was open and Mat-Su Regional was under construction, Howell-Canada flew up to Anchorage and drove out to the Valley for an interview.

At first, she didn't see much.

&#8220It was dark,” she said. &#8220It was night, so I didn't see the mountains until the morning.”

The doctor remembers her first thoughts when she saw the area in daylight.

&#8220It's God's country,” she said.

The three days she spent looking over the area and talking with hospital staff convinced Howell-Canada to move up to Alaska by herself and practice pediatrics in the Mat-Su - in January.

&#8220My children are grown and independent,” she said. &#8220So this was the opportunity of a lifetime to do something different, to find out who I'm all about.”

Coming from Wisconsin winters, Howell-Canada didn't have to buy new winter clothes.

&#8220I just had to wear them longer,” she said. &#8220I wasn't used to seeing 20 below as the high and everyone thinking it was a heat wave.”

Also foreign to her was putting an engine-block heater in her car and plugging it in, she said.

But summer, with its long hours of daylight, took more of an adjustment than winter.

&#8220When it's dusk from 2 to 5 a.m., it throws my physical clock off,” she said. &#8220I'm up when its light. People go away in the winter, but I'll go away for the summer.”

One thing in Alaska that wasn't different was what Howell-Canada sees in her medical practice.

&#8220The beauty of peds is you see basically the same diseases,” she said. &#8220Kids love to share germs with each other. I changed locations, not infections.”

Howell-Canada got interested in pediatrics during her junior rotation as a medical student. Whenever someone died, the hard duty of informing the family was laid on the shoulder of the junior students, she said.

She did that twice, and it was so difficult she looked for something better, she said.

&#8220So I went into pediatrics because kids aren't supposed to die,” she said.

&#8220And you have more fun with them. Parents will do more for their kids than they will for themselves.”

One thing Howell-Canada hopes to accomplish in her Valley practice is to focus on patient education for parents.

&#8220I want to figure out the avenue to best get information across,” she said. &#8220Whether it is written or audio visual.”

One educational message she has is that, as respiratory infection season is starting, the best way for parents to keep their children and themselves healthy is to make sure everyone had good hand-washing techniques, and to cover the nose and mouth whenever they cough, she said.

For recreation since she's been here, the doctor most enjoys just looking out the window.

&#8220I haven't seen same scenery twice,” she said.

And she has traveled south to Seward and north as far as Talkeetna.

&#8220It's gorgeous,” she said. &#8220You can't explain it, and pictures don't do it justice.”

Like many Alaskan, Howell-Canada's home has become a vacation destination for friends and family, but she doesn't have freeloaders hanging around. Visitors discover that coming to see her is a &#8220working vacation,” she said.

&#8220This is not a free ride,” she said. &#8220I have a garden plot and my son helped plant bulbs for next spring.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.