'Homeless Heidi's' Antarctic adventure

Heidi Lim 96A (left) isn't really homeless, but when she unpacks, she keeps warm clothes on the top of the pile. Later this month, Lim will return to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica for her fifth winter as the only physician assistant at the bottom of the world.

Several years after becoming a physician assistant, Heidi Lim 96A decided she didn’t want to settle in just one location. After working in Georgia upon receiving her degree in allied health, she provided care at a Navajo reservation in Chinle, Ariz., then moved on to multiple locations in Alaska, including Dutch Harbor, St. George Island, Emmonak, and Unalakleet.
           
“The more I worked out in the bush, the more I loved the remoteness and the challenges of the unconventional settings and populations,” Lim said. “I loved the adventure of working in a remote area with a population in great need of medical care, and decided to do more.”
           
So in October 2002, Lim headed to Antarctica—the South Pole, to be exact. For a full year on her first visit, and then for winters (February through October) in 2005, 2006, and 2007, she has worked at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a U.S. research station.
           
Lim, who chronicles her experiences as “Homeless Heidi,” is one of only five physician assistants (PAs) who have worked at the South Pole, and with four winters under her belt, she holds the record for most number of winters spent at the station for a woman. In the winter, temperatures can drop to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the Amundsen-Scott station, which consists of the Elevated Station and the Dome.
           
During her winter stays, Lim works in conjunction with the one physician at the station and says her tasks are 50 percent medical and 50 percent “other.” Lim said there’s not enough to do to keep two medical providers busy all the time in the winter, so that’s why there are added duties for the PA.
           
On the medical side, Lim provides care to the crew (54 people on her last winter stay), typically walk-ins for minor injuries or prescription refills. She performs procedures such as removing skin lesions or draining abscesses and provides physical therapy. The station clinic’s main treatment room also serves as a trauma bay, a radio communications room and dental exam room. “We have to be dentists here, too, and be able to fix things like a chipped tooth,” Lim said.
           
Lim also frequently treats the altitude sickness that crewmembers exhibit when they fly in from McMurdo Station, the largest station in Antarctica, about a 3½-hour plane ride away from the South Pole. McMurdo is at sea level, a great change from the South Pole, which has an altitude of 9,300 feet and a physiological altitude usually over 10,000 feet.
           
As for the “other” side of her job, Lim is the station’s resident manager of Polemart, a small store that sells items such as souvenirs, snacks, beverages, and toiletries. She’s the winter finance manager, reconciling funds on the station and acting as a human ATM. She also monitors flights to and from the South Pole.
           
In addition, Lim spends time acting as recreation coordinator, doing weekend power plant checks, washing dishes and making homemade bagels that are served three times a week (check out her March 30, 2007, blog entry for all the details).
           
Lim said there are pros and cons to having so many duties at the station. “I like the variety of jobs and like to stay busy, but the downside is I feel like some skills get rusty without seeing 20 patients a day like I’ve done in other more conventional settings,” she says.
           
As for daily life at the station, “It’s all communal living,” Lim said. Most crewmembers have an 8-by-10 foot berthing room, although Lim has a double room as a benefit of seniority.
           
And bathrooms are shared, so it’s a bit like dorm living, Lim said. “Because we have to melt ice to get our water, and fuel [costs make it] very expensive to fly down here, we are allowed two two-minute showers a week,” she said. “I know that sounds horrifying, but it’s really not that bad!”
           
The travel is one of the best parts of being part of the U.S. Antarctic Program, Lim said. “We spend a lot of time dreaming about warm tropical places that we’ll be visiting when we get out of here, and that’s another great reason for doing seasons on the ice—you get a free trip to New Zealand, and it’s easy to vacation there or in places such as Australia, Fiji, and Thailand afterward.”
           
In fact Lim’s most recent vacation includes not only a trip Thailand with her boyfriend, who is one of the chefs at the station, but also some time off visiting her family in Tucson, Ariz., where she grew up. She is set to return to the South Pole for her fifth winter in late January.
           
“The best part of my job is living the adventure that is Antarctica,” Lim said. “We become a big family, and I’ve made lots of friends over the seasons, so in a way, it feels like home.”—Terri Schaefer

This is an edited version of a story that originally appeared in the online publication ADVANCE for Physician Assistants, and it is reprinted with permission. To read the original story, click here.